The Forging of a Huntress: Book One of the Black Dahlia cycle
by kcharling
Summary: This is the first FanFiction I've ever written. I love RWBY and decided to add in my own set of characters into the story line. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.
1. Chapter 1

_I know what people think when they see me. They only see the limp, the walking staff and the silver hair. They never see the danger I am. They only see weakness._

_It was Omar who taught me to use that mistake and make it an advantage. Omar, who created me piece by piece from the moment I was born. Maybe even before then. He never explained though, whether the war I was fighting for him was supposed to save Remnant..._

_Or destroy it._

"Hello, welcome to Vale." A friendly voice said as I walked off the transporter towards the academy's illustrious archway.

I flinched and put both hands on my walking staff, leaning most of my weight on it.

"Oh, um, hello." I said sheepishly. I put a hand on the edge of my hood to keep it forward and took comfort from the fact that no one could yet see me.

Why did I think this was a good idea again?

"My name is Elise. What's yours?"

I was both annoyed and confused by the pushy voice so I turn to look at this tiny lovely little girl with big brown eyes and long blonde hair. I actually had to look down at her.

She had a friendly look on her perfectly proportioned face and I had to crack a smile at her. "Dahlia. Pleasure to meet you."

I kept one hand on my staff and shook her surprisingly strong hand.

"This is my first year here. I just came from Signal Academy. Where are you from?" She said falling in step with my limping gait. "Somewhere else." I murmured turning to look at the sprawling mass of Beacon Academy. "Somewhere else?" She said skeptically.

I nodded grinning a little bit. See, I could make friends.

I was looking at the little Elise, and not at who was in front of me.

"Ow! Hey!" A loud angry male voice howled at me. I blanched and as I looked up, my hood fell off. "I-I'm so s-sorry." I stuttered, flinching from the rage in his face.

I had apparently crushed his giant foot and smacked his face with my walking staff on accident.

"I'm gonna make you sorry, old maid."

I winced at the reference to my appearance. When my hood fell off, the silver waterfall of my hair had fallen down my back.

With my hair, my limp, my walking staff, and my black cloak most assumed that I was an old woman. Not a girl of nineteen. "Take it back, Martris. She didn't mean any harm. You're just so huge, she couldn't get around you." Elise said menacingly. She bristled at Martris' attempt to bully a new girl who obviously couldn't defend herself.

"Relax Elise. It was my fault." I whispered.

The big guy, whom I noticed had a battle-axe bigger than myself on his back, glared at me. "I'll be looking for you, Grandma. Watch your back." He said before walking off with his groupies.

I could make enemies too.

"Hey, don't worry about Martris. I tangled with him at Signal. He won't mess with you when I'm around."

Bewildered I looked at her. "Why are you helping me?"

Her smile was full of understanding. "Because you look how I felt my first day of school."

I gave her a watery smile. "Sick and terrified?"

"Exactly, c'mon. Let's beat the crowd."

* * *

_At least I'm not that guy_. There was a lanky blonde guy standing outside of the transporter looking embarrassed. Apparently, he didn't handle motion sickness well. Now he was labeled vomit boy. Poor kid.

Elise and I were walking under the main bridge, admiring the architecture and the array of lush plants around us when there was a small explosion above us in the main courtyard. Elise wanted to charge in and see what was going on, but my better sense told me to hold on. Not my business whatever it was.

There was some yelling and whining and angry noises. They were high feminine voices.

Definitely not my business.

"This place is enormous! I mean, look at that tower! We are gonna be in such good shape in a few days just from getting to classes!" Elise said pointing up at the tallest tower further away from the school than others.

_The view from there must be incredible._

I began to formulate a plan to get up to the top. It involved some amazing acrobatics that made me grin.

We walked for a long time, becoming cautious friends as we did. I learned a lot from her. The hour seemed to fly by without us. Elise had stopped to study a section of roses when I heard footsteps and echoing voices.

I turned and looked at the two people walking our way. They were deep in discussion about nicknames. Apparently, vomit boy had found the girl who had caused the explosion earlier

He was pretty handsome and I could sense a deep shyness in him that he covered with feigned confidence.

He wore white shoulder armor and a matching white breastplate over a black hoodie that was in need of a good cleaning and red metal forearm armor. His jeans were dirty and ripped tucked into black leather boots. At his hip was an old longsword in a scuffed sheath. I smiled as he spoke animatedly with the young girl at his side.

She was nothing like I had experienced before. Though to be fair, my experience with other people was rather limited.

She was beautiful in a way I had never seen. I had thought little Elise was the most gorgeous girl on the planet with her long blonde hair and curvy body.

The girl in the red hood though was different.

Her skin was pale as snow, her choppy red hair so dark it was almost black and her eyes were a peculiar shade of silver, a little darker than my own starlight colored hair.

She wore a fascinating costume. A long high collar black and red sleeve blouse under a black and red corset and a thigh length black battle skirt with layers of red beneath the black. Her belt contained sniper bullets, an ammo case and a metal rose buckle crest that definitely caught my attention. Her leggings were black and she wore black and red combat boots on her feet. The final touch was the calf length red riding hood that was pinned to her shoulders by two tiny steel crosses.

I wondered at the crest, knowing that I'd seen it before… somewhere...

The weapon magnetized across her lower back made my blood run cold.

Such a beautiful, delicate girl with such a deadly, evil weapon.

Before my eyes, she whirled her red scythe off her back and into its battle mode. I looked for the danger, immediately dropping into a battle stance as well. Pain shot through my right leg and I was prepared to fight.

Then I realized that she was just showing the boy her weapon. The way it unfolded without a sound showed how much care she put into it. Even Omar's scythe sometimes clicked quietly if he forgot to oil it.

Elise was looking with interest at the weapon I knew almost as well as my own.

The girl cocked the sniper rifle in it. Omar hadn't had that. The thought made me smile.

The boy popped the shield on his arm out clumsily and drew his sword. His grip was all wrong and my eyes narrowed as I studied him. How had he gotten into this particular battle school? Even I had been thoroughly tested before being accepted and my 'friend' had pulled a few strings to get me in because of my age. Vomit Boy's shield clicked accidentally out of his hands and Elise laughed.

I nudged her to keep her quiet.

Then Elise began tugging me towards the main entry hall. "C'mon Dally; we are going to be late for Professor Ozpin's speech!" I groaned and hurried to keep up with her. My leg began to ache fiercely. "Don't call me that." She gave me a wicked look that told me that I had just earned my first nickname.

I thought of the two people I had studied. I'd find out more about them soon.

* * *

The room was positively crowded and I drew my hood back over my head as I limped through the throng of people. Elise had disappeared after we got in. I was pretty sure she had seen someone she knew.

My senses were almost overloaded from the amount of people. My extra sense was pressed and battered with a million different people's feelings and Auras. I was practiced at protecting myself though and moments later, the pressed of feelings passed. My shields were reinforced and the room's feelings were a vague blur around my mind.

I looked for Elise but it seemed that she wouldn't be able to find me before the speech began. I was alright though. I wanted to hear what the Headmaster had to say without having to control my face.

"Ruby, look I saved you a spot!" I heard a bright voice shout.

I saw the girl with the red hood leave the blonde boy for a girl who was probably the most stunning creature I had ever seen.

I took a few moments to appreciate the voluptuous figure and the glorious long, thick blonde hair. Her outfit left little to the imagination. She wore an orange scarf tucked around her neck, a short light brown leather jacket that ended above her elbows and above her bellybutton and was buttoned just below her breasts. A yellow half shirt was under her jacket with a sigil that looked like a flaming heart on her left breast. It didn't take much to know that those were her finest features.

Around her hips was a belt skirt thing that matched her half jacket. It was a belt in the front and a pleated skirt thing in the back. On the pleat that rested on her right thigh was that burning yellow heart tooled into the light brown leather. An uneven length of white cloth hung from below the skirt to where the lower end of the diagonal hem touched the back of her right knee. Beneath the belt-skirt and clothe, she wore very short black shorts that showed off her powerful legs. Her knee height light brown leather combat boots were over dark orange socks. The sock on the right was rolled down to the edge of the boot while the one on her left leg was rolled up above her knee onto her creamy pale thigh. Around the top of her left boot a gray scarf thing.

She stood with he hands on her hips, leaning on her right leg, all confident and lovely. I took notice of her black leather fingerless gloves and the hammered gold wristlets on both her wrists. I didn't notice any obvious weapons, but I knew she was armed. I caught a glimpse of flashing lilac purple eyes and felt the heat rise in my cheeks. Why were all these people so beautiful?

The girl in the red hood, Ruby, spoke angrily to the blonde girl. I smiled. They sounded like sisters even though they looked nothing alike.

The thought brought sad memories in its wake.

I saw trouble coming in for the two girls in the form of an ethereal looking young woman in white. She had an angry aristocratic step. "You!" I heard her say. Ruby leapt into the blonde girl's arms. The girl in white wasn't hard to identify. I had been forced to memorize her entire family many moons before. I knew Weiss Schnee instantly.

Her beauty lay in a different direction than Ruby's or the blonde girl. Weiss looked like falling snow. Her very long pure white hair was done into a long ponytail off-centered to the right, accented with little black spikes in the bun, almost like a little crown. Her choppy bangs rested against darkened white eyebrows. Her skin matched Ruby's for its whiteness but unlike Ruby's attire that made her skin even paler; Weiss' accents of color were few and striking. Her white jacket was long with the snowflake emblem of the Schnee family tooled in silver across her back. The inside of her jackets stiff collar was as red as Ruby's cloak. Her dress was pale white-blue, with a little black fan on the front collar of the dress from her undershirt. It rested against the pale expanse of her chest and accentuated her slender form. Her layered skirts ended above her knees, with the pattern of falling snowflakes stitched into the hem. Her boots were white leather with a high stacked heel and red insides.

Around her tiny waist was a satin ribbon tied tight. On it was a little white pouch that rested on the small of her lower back.

Her beauty was a cold kind. She wore a black necklace that gently touched her prominent collarbones before resting against her sternum above the black fan undershirt.

Her ice blue eyes pinned Ruby to the floor while she sternly spoke to her. Ruby sounding pitifully apologetic climbed out of the blonde girl's arms.

Weiss' arm shot straight out holding a pamphlet saying 'Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals'. _How rude_. Her wide sleeves were also stitched lovingly with snowflake patterns.

My eyes observed the rapier at her hip. She must have had a magnetic strip around her waist to attach her weapon to. Its tip was needle sharp and I could scarcely make out the glyphs etched into the silver metal. It was very finely made.

It would be a treat to see her fight.

Her beauty was a cold kind, but I sensed a very deep hurt inside her. I could almost see it in her face. Especially when I saw the scar that ran down through her left eye.

Ruby took the pamphlet and the blonde girl ran a hand through her shiny hair while making a comment. Then Ruby extended her hand to Weiss who stared coldly at her.

I could feel the sarcasm coming from Weiss from where I stood.

Weiss threw a thumb at the blonde boy that Ruby had been speaking to.

Then a man cleared his throat on stage.

My full attention was on the handsome, older man who wore black spectacles perched on his thin nose. Professor Ozpin.

A fine-looking man with tousled silver gray hair, thin black eyebrows, dark brown eyes, and narrow, aristocratic features in an unbuttoned dark, dark green suit jacket over a dark, dark green buttoned vest over a forest green undershirt, long dark, dark green pants and black trouser shoes. A forest green scarf was tucked tightly around his neck with a small purple cross emblem on it.

"I'll keep this brief." He said pushing those spectacles up.

"You have traveled here today, in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

He looked around the room.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose. Direction."

I raised my eyebrows at this statement. A blunt way of saying what I had been thinking since I got here though it reminded me uncomfortably of the way my father spoke to his new trainees.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

I was momentarily distracted from Professor Ozpin's speech as the blonde girl moved her hands through her hair again. Ruby looked fiercely thoughtful and Weiss looked determined.

The riveting man walked away from the microphone slowly. He turned and looked into the audience for a moment and nearly caught my eye. I looked down as quickly as I could and stayed that way till I was sure he was off the stage.

Huntress Goodwitch stepped up to the microphone and informed us that we would all be sleeping in the ballroom that night and that the next day our initiation would begin.

Her last words before dismissing us were "Be ready."

And I felt a chill go down my spine.

Was I ready for this?

* * *

Everyone gathered in the large ballroom to sleep. There was much fighting over spots but I was perfectly content to hide in the darkest corner, the furthest from the large glass paned windows. Some were embarrassed to find that there was very little separation of boys and girls.

I didn't particularly care either way but it was interesting to see the interactions going on. I stayed in my corner on my sleeping mat cuddling with my pillow and observed.

I will ask again, why are all these people so beautiful?

I caught sight of Jaune, the blonde boy who Ruby had befriended and who had thrown up on the ship, walking around in long light blue footie pajamas with blue bunny slippers on. It made me giggle a little to see Yang's reaction to him.

Yang Xiao Long, the beautiful blonde girl from before. Ruby's older sister.

Ruby, who was writing something and throwing pillows after every one of Yang's comments. She looked disgruntled and unhappy as she laid on her back and stared pensively at the ceiling.

_You and me both._

Was I unhappy? I couldn't tell. Feelings were still so foreign to me. I had only recently been allowed to have and express emotions of my own. Emotions themselves are confusing and highly irrational. I certainly wasn't happy. I was too afraid and alone to be happy. But I made it. I was in Beacon Academy where I could learn to live in the outside world.

I could learn to live as something other than a monster.

My dark thoughts were disrupted when Yang dragged Ruby up and over to a bookcase along the wall, to see a person that I couldn't see. I saw two pale, lithe legs daintily curled up and the hem of a gray dressing robe. My Scroll buzzed and I smiled seeing that the old bastard had thought of me.

_Bastard: You got on the ship, right?_

There had been a long while when I hadn't been sure if I was going to get on the airship to bring me here. Even after I passed the tests and was accepted, I hadn't been sure if I could come to this amazing school.

I responded to him with a quick affirmative and then shifted my attention back to the room.

There was a conversation but I was distracted by Elise who had finally found me and a tall boy who looked remarkably similar to her.

"Dally! Finally! I've been looking everywhere for you!" She cried, grabbing the boy's wrist and dragging him over to where I sat against the wall.

I smiled at her. She actually looked happy to see me." Hello Ely." I murmured. She practically beamed.

"Elin, meet Dahlia. Dahlia, this is my twin brother Elin." I used the wall to stand up. I wore a long silk thin strap black modest night gown yet I suddenly felt so exposed. I reached out my hand and he grabbed it and kissed my knuckles. His smile was small and gentle. "Charmed." He said in a breathy tenor. Elise was smiling enormously.

I could easily see the resemblance they had. But I could also see the differences. Elise was short, curvy and strong with delicate features, big, dark brown eyes and that long straight blonde hair.

Elin was tall, willowy and slender with his sister's delicate face and the same straight hair only his was a little darker than hers and his eyes were a lighter woodier brown.

He had a rather feminine quality to him. Maybe it was he was too beautiful to be called manly and his face was incredibly androgynous. I smiled shyly at him and the three of us talked till someone called Elise's name.

They both said goodnight and left and I was feeling a little lighter. Two friends. I was on a roll.

I was about to slide back down onto my mat when I caught sight of a painfully familiar figure. The person Yang and Ruby were talking to.

Blake Belladonna.

Someone I hadn't seen in at least four years.

Images assaulted me as I tried to configure her into my equation. Images of pain and death and most of all of Adam.

The last time I had seen her, she had walked off with him. Choosing to believe him over me.

She hadn't looked back.

I looked at her for a while as Ruby and Yang talked to her and fought. Even the arrival of Weiss hadn't distracted me.

She had grown up some. There were near invisible lines of sorrow on her face and inside her, I sensed something broken deep within Blake. Something so painful she couldn't bear to face it.

She was still reading which made me happy. Blake loved books. They were her way of escaping.

Her tawny amber eyes held amusement and annoyance in equal measure as she looked at the three girls in front of her. She didn't look my way and for that I was thankful.

I would meet with Blake when I was ready to face our past and see if our relationship could be mended.

She reached for the candles she had been reading by and blew them out.

My leg ached fiercely and I forced myself not to fall onto my mat. Instead, I carefully knelt onto it and gracefully face planted into my fluffy gray pillow.

I pulled my blanket up over my shoulder and reached for Orchid. Just touching my weapon gave me comfort. The warm metal that was silver, but did not shine, met my fingertips and I was then able to roll onto my back and close my eyes.

Maybe eventually I would even be able to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I was up at dawn as usual. I had slept fitfully but it had still been sleep, for which I was thankful. My bags were cleaned up and ready to go and then I made my way to the bathroom to begin the day.

One of the perks of being up early was not having to fight for a shower.

I took a hot shower, making sure every inch of me was clean. The pounding water also helped relax my tense muscles.

Was I really ready for this? Or was I just fooling myself in believing I could mask as a simple student? Would someone notice? Would someone realize? Would that old bastard keep his word and keep his mouth shut or was he just waiting for the right moment to reveal me?

If he revealed me, I would be as good as dead.

I did my best to shove all those questions away. Of course, I was ready. Of course, of course, of course. The old bastard would keep his word. For all his crookedness, he was an honorable man. It was something he didn't show much and it made me fond of him.

Strange.

After the shower, I dried off, brushed my teeth and went to the extensive mirrors they had. I spent time brushing out my long silver hair, air drying it. Still, no one entered. Apparently, dawn was considered 'too early' to most of my classmates.

I found the special strands of hair as I brushed. The one place that had lasted through Omar's tortures. There was a spot at the base of my scalp that still produced the black strands of hair that I had been born with. I always felt absurdly proud of it. I had outlasted even the mighty Omar.

When dry, my hair was soft, wavy and shiny, hanging all the way to my hips. Then I decided it was time to really get ready.

My younger sister and I had created our daily outfits together. A long, long time ago.

The first thing to go on was the top.

It was a hands width swath of soft, flexible black matte leather.

I'm a fairly well-endowed girl. Not like Yang's endowment but pretty close.

I put it behind my back just below my shoulder blade then I stretch out my arms till I think the fabric is even on both side of my body. Then the end in my right hand goes over my left shoulder and the end in my left hand goes over my right shoulder where the two ends are tied tightly behind my neck. A little adjusting here and there to make sure my endowments stay within the leather cups and an extra tug at the knot completed my top.

I can always feel the extra fabric brushing my back as I walk.

The next thing I put on was metal and leather gorget. I didn't know what the metal was but I knew that it's the strongest armor ever created.

It looked like a steel and leather collar. It completely encased my neck in its protective grasp except a small grove near the front to allow me to move my head.

I fit it on my neck and pushed it till I heard a small click that meant it was securely shut. The gorget had saved my life on a number of occasions.

When I pulled my pants and belts out the sun began to rise above the horizon significantly. Soon the others would be waking up.

I pulled on the tight black matte leather pants that fit me like a second skin, depriving an enemy of a hand hold. My tall knee high black combat boots accepted the curve of my foot. Ah, familiarity. I pulled the thickest leather belt out and slid it through my belt loops.

The silver matte belt buckle was a delicate orchid matching my staff.

With the ease of practice, I began to belt the smaller belts in their places along my legs. I hooked my various belt pouches along them with a lot of extra ammo, dry food, a canteen went on my hip and I always had a healing kit with me, attached to my big belt on my back, where Ruby stored her scythe on herself.

Finally, I buckled my black cloak around my shoulders.

I gripped Orchid in my right hand tightly and went back over to the mirrors to study myself.

I will not look like one of Omar's children again. This is me now.

I shuddered. I looked into my own eyes, eyes so dark blue they were almost black and saw fear. Fear that someone would see what I was before I could change.

I wanted this face and these clothes to mean something different than before. I wanted eyes that looked so dark because even my long eyelashes had long ago been turned to blackened silver, to know the world for the good, not just the bad.

I smiled at myself, showing my teeth. Something I never could do. My sharp elongated canines glinted back at me, a testament to why I never smiled with my teeth. A testament to yet another secret.

Then I heard the groggy murmurings of other people and I quickly exited.

I pulled my hood up to hide my hair and my face. No one noticed me as I made my way to breakfast. On my way, I woke the still sleeping Elise to save someone else from doing it. She had told me yesterday of her difficult time waking up. "Morning, Ely. Go shower before there is a line." I said gently before she rolled up and walked like a zombie towards the bathroom.

I consumed a delicious breakfast of blackberry pancakes before the rest of my fellow initiates had reached the room. Another perk of being the first one up. Breakfast is always fresh and hot.

Too bad my morning was ruined by the radio.

"... still on the hunt. Though Faceless hasn't struck since the murder of Professor Hawkin, authorities still remain alert, wondering where the villain will strike next."

Student's murmured about the broadcast, wondering where the elusive killer would attack next. Faceless was considered a threat too far and yet too close for anyone's comfort. I could hear and feel the fear and awe mixed together when they spoke of the terrible assassin.

Not wanting to participate in any conversation having to do with Faceless, I moved to the back of the cafeteria and waited.

Elise finally came and found me with her tray full of food, dressed for combat. She looked awake, alert and humming with excitement. "Initiation day!" She said when she dug in. "I know. I feel like my heart is about to burst from excitement." I said. She looked me up and down appreciatively. "I like your outfit." She said, downing pancakes like a pro.

"Elise, try not to be such a pig. Good morning, Dahlia." Elin said before sitting down, also looking ready for the day. Everyone's attire was so interesting, I saw as they all slowly made their way into the dining room. Each one was unique and a statement of that persona's personality. For a moment I wondered what my outfit said about me.

Elise shot her brother a dirty look before devouring her bacon. Both me and Elin laughed.

"So did you hear? We're being put into teams." He said, consuming his blueberry waffles with passion. I slumped.

Teams?

Who wants a cripple on their team?

"Dally, you had better be on my team. Or else. I mean, who else is going to make sure brick head stays in line." She said eyeing Martris. Apparently, time had not soothed the big boys temper. "I'm not worried about him." I said quietly, drinking some water to ease the dryness in my throat.

"You shouldn't be. You're my friend." She said brimming with confidence.

I eyed her.

Her long hair was braided and wrapped into a large bun on the back of her head with her messy bangs swept over her right eyebrow. She had applied some makeup to her face, which made no sense to me, but if she liked it then who was I to question it?

Her outfit consisted of a loose long sleeve v neck white blouse with tight cuffs tucked into tight black pants, high heeled black leather boots. Over her upper torso she wore a molded black chest plate and the same on her shoulders. She wore what looked like a metal harness that hooked around her waist, under her bust and looped around her shoulders and the giant metal plate that near covered her back was what her sword magnetized itself to.

Across her back was the largest sword I'd ever seen. It was taller than her and the hilt stuck up over her left shoulder and wide enough to need her whole back to cover it.

How is she strong enough to lift that thing?

Elin was dressed exactly like his sister; the only difference was the opposite coloring. His shirt was black and his pants and armor were white. His boots were more like mine, without Elise's high heels. Not to mention that his v-neckline went much deeper than Elise's; showing off a smooth, well muscled chest.

Coiled at Elin's waist were two oddly designed whips. Their hilts became two matching points, deadly melee weapons if used right and on their grips there were finger holes that looked an awful lot like brass knuckles. How interesting.

"Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Goodwitch sounded so sweet and collected over the speaker when she was really a generally stern person.

Elise finished the last of her enormous meal and smiled. "It's time."

* * *

Beacon Cliff was aptly named. An enormous 90 degree drop right down into the Emerald forest.

Each of my classmates stood on a metal platform facing Professor Ozpin, with a mug in his hand that smelled of coffee and Huntress Goodwitch who held a tablet.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald forest." Ozpin looked at all of us, his eyes meeting mine momentarily. I didn't drop my gaze this time. Today, I would show him my mettle.

Goodwitch took the stage for a moment. "Now I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." She said looking at Ruby who if she could, would have gone even paler.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well." Ruby groaned at Ozpin's statement. For the rest of school. Oh ye Gods, I thought horrified. I looked at Elise who winked at me.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." I thought I would faint.

Oh, please, let me find Elise or Elin before anyone else.

Then a thought struck me.

What if Martris found me first?

I controlled my expression and calmed my breathing. Don't think of the bad. Find Elise.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the Northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path- or you will die." He continued, looking at me from out the corner of his eye.

Me? Die? I should be so lucky.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will gauge that item, as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune began to speak but Ozpin cut him off with a, "Good, now take your positions."

Everyone dropped into a battle stance. I crouched with my right leg back, putting all my weight on my good left leg. That would be the leg I would use to send me flying. Orchid was in my left hand parallel to the ground.

Only Jaune wasn't prepared to fly. He just kept trying to ask his question about our 'landing strategy'. Poor boy. I guess he didn't know that you had to figure one out.

One by one, the metal plates we stood on launched us into the air over the Emerald Forest.

I looked at Elise, who was going next and smiled. She would really fly. She winked at me again before her plate flung her. I heard a "Whoohoo!" As she went.

Next to Elise was a poised red haired woman in Spartan like battle armor with a red and gold spear and shield across her back.

I met Professor Ozpin's eyes once more before I felt myself launched into the air in a rush of wind.

With a last push from my left leg, I surged into the wind, my black cloak flapping behind me like wings.

I was joined in the air by my fellow classmates all smiling with battle glint in their eyes. Then I heard a terrified scream and knew the Jaune Arc had taken to the sky, unprepared.

I whirled Orchid around above me, to lessen my impact as I fell towards the large trees.

As I whirled the silver staff faster, the lighter I became. And with the gracefulness of a falling petal, I landed on a sturdy branch. I looked around and saw everyone falling into the tree line. Then I saw Yang, blasted across the tree line right towards me. I ducked out of her way. She was laughing as she bounced from tree to tree, hitting the ground with an exultant 'Nailed it.'

The red haired girl barreled through the tree branched before rolling onto a branch below me, her spear changing into a rifle.

A scream overhead showed where Jaune was. Poor boy, I thought again looking as he somersaulted wildly through the air.

With her rifle turning into a spear again, the red haired girl iron sighted Jaune and fired her spear. I thought she meant to kill him but she was merely stopping him from falling, pinning him to a tree. "I'm sorry!" She cried sweetly.

I smiled. I kind of was starting to like my classmates.

I whirled Orchid again and gently drifted down to the forest floor.

Ruby whipped past me yelling for her sister. I thought about calling out to her but then I thought better of it. So I got my bearings and started walking North with painful ground devouring strides.

I got glimpses of pairs as walked and began to panic. What if I didn't find anyone?

As I got farther away, the less people I saw.

And the more I began to wonder... where were all the Grimm?

Suddenly, I heard gunshots and howling and the crackling of fire.

Oh, there they are.

Sounds like a pack of Beowolves had found some of my teammates. But closer off to my right, I heard a boy yell in pain and what I thought sounded like an Ursa roar. Deciding that the boy was in more danger than the other pair, I took off towards the right.

Even as a cripple, when I needed speed, I could cover ground. And I made it just in time. It wasn't just an Ursa. It was an Ursa Major.

The big burly boy was fending it off with Aura alone.

The Ursa Major was a big one, but not the biggest I had ever fought. Centering myself on both legs, I felt the excruciating pain in my right leg turn to the energy that I used to fight. I slid my hand down Orchid to the center where the familiar etchings of the triggers dug into my fingers.

I pointed the top of the staff at the big bear like Grimm and pressed the first trigger.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

I fired off three shots that didn't pierce the Grimm's side but distracted it from the wounded boy.

The Grimm's burning red eyes fixed on me. I smiled.

Gripping Orchid in both hands as the Ursa Major charged, I twisted the staff.

Twin blades slid out from the ends, deadly sharp and strong.

Time always seems to slow down for me in a fight. I no longer felt the pain in my leg. Just strength and speed as I whirled and kicked and sliced and killed.

Orchid was my own design. Forged by my hands in the way I wanted.

Yes, Orchid was used as my walking staff, due to my severely injured leg. But as a weapon, she was hard to match.

When twisted a quarter turn to the left, the twin blades popped out of the ends to become a bladed staff. Another twist separates the top and bottom halves revealing two more blades inside, making a total of four blades.

With the two halves of the staff with all four blades, I become a storm of silver. Much of my fighting style is acrobatics as hand-to-hand. And if I chose to have more flexibility and speed with Orchid, the two halves both had a switch near my thumb that if release the two halves became four. The halves swung on a steel chain to become double bladed nun-chucks. I had trained for many years to master their use this way. It was Orchid's most deadly mode because one wrong move and you would hurt yourself more than your enemy.

The Ursa Major was missing most of its body parts and was bleeding messily as it made its final charge on two legs.

As easily as the parts come apart, Orchid fit back together smoothly in a few strokes of movement.

Orchid had a few other personal features. Long range modes. When a full staff, Orchid was also a high powered rifle which was her first trigger. Her second trigger was a powerful knife thrower. It was the secret defense I had for I could use it when leaning on it. The knives were housed in a compartment at the top of the staff and when the second trigger was pressed, three knives were loaded. They were fired when I slammed the butt of my staff down.

I put a single rifle shot through the Ursa Major's eye before it fell dead at my feet.

Then the pain returned and I leaned heavily on my staff and limped to the bleeding boy on the ground. He wasn't crying but was in pain-shock.

"Hello, my name is Dahlia." I murmured, pulling my healing kit out. "Don't bother. My leg will have to be removed. I know it. No one could save it. I've failed before we'd even begun." He said, voice thick with despair. I only smiled at him.

"Hush now." I said, pulling his leg back into place. It was his left leg and it hung on by a little skin and muscle. Yes, anyone else would have cut it off. But the skin and muscle was enough for me to work with.

"See that leaf above you? Focus on it. This will feel strange." I whispered to him.

Once his leg was repositioned properly, I began to prepare it for the Deep Healing. I wanted no internal infection once it was complete.

I talked to him as I worked, telling him about the plants and herbs I used for healing.

He didn't seem to listen but I knew my soft voice provided a soothing background noise.

Once his leg was ready, I reached deep inside myself to the place in my heart the housed my Aura. I entered the dark Blue of its power and instinctively activated my Semblance and pulled the strands of Healing from my body into my hands and pressed those strands into the wounded leg.

It was hard work but my concentration never wavered. I watched with my inner sense as I coaxed muscle to regrow and knit itself back together, bone reattach and heal firm, veins and arteries grow back and new skin to form beneath my hands.

And as I healed his physical wounds, I went to work healing his emotional and mental wounds. I healed most of the trauma and ease the soul-hurt that I could.

For my Semblance wasn't just physical Healing but Emotional and Mental Healing as well.

I don't know how long we took but in the end, he was left without even a scar.

"Oh… my God." He said as I pulled him into a sitting position.

I was tired but proud.

He moved it for me and wiggled his toes before I let him put his boot back on and helped him to his feet. "It feels good as new." He said smiling. "My name is Peyton. Thank you... for everything." He said taking my hand and kissing it gently. I blushed. Boys were so gallant.

He was dressed in full dark gray and black camouflage colored molded armor with a peculiar techno looking crest engraved into his chest plate, over a pair of black pants and a gray long sleeved t-shirt and dark gray combat boots.

"It's not a problem... partner." I murmured smiling. "C'mon, let's get going before anything else attacks us."

He grinned.

He was a really big guy, broad shoulder with rippling muscles and powerful legs, towering a good three heads over me. He had long shaggy brown hair tied in a tail and big green-hazel eyes.

He ran a quick studying eye over my generous figure but it was a strictly professional look. I had a love-hate relationship with the way my body looks. As a girl, I enjoyed how beautiful it was, but at the same time, I never knew if this was the body I was meant to have. Omar had such a hand in designing me from the beginning. Was this my body or the one Omar wanted me to have?

I had a flat stomach and a beautiful hourglass shape. Many men have wanted to place their hands on my well rounded hips but those same men found my crippled leg unappealing.

My pace wasn't as fast as before but it was still quick. I disliked the thought of being the last ones. A Nevermore circled overhead and I watched as a little black and red dot fell from off it.

"Dahlia, we are close." Peyton said. I made sure to steer clear of his arms. His choice of weapon were gauntlet blades that rimmed his outer forearms to his elbows and they were wicked sharp. Shorter blades rimmed his knuckles, giving his already powerful punches a deadly edge. Strange panels lined his inner forearm.

We began to move again when I heard a crack behind us. I fell into a battle stance, Orchid as a bladed staff faster the Peyton could match.

"Dahlia!" I heard a voice cry.

Joy lit my features.

"Elise!"

The little girl ran towards me, her twin appearing behind her as if he had been a part of the tree. She threw herself at me in a hug and I saw blood oozing from a deep cut above her right eyebrow.

"Beowolves." Elin said, seeing my look of concern. He looked tired but calm.

I smiled at him but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Peyton.

"Hi. I'm Elin." He murmured to the large boy. "Peyton. Nice to meet you." Peyton replied shyly.

I covered their conversation by telling Elise that the temple was close and cleaning her wound and dabbing it with an antiseptic. I'd properly Heal it after we had made it back to the cliffs.

"We'd better hurry. Those Beowolves weren't all killed and they'll follow Elise's blood scent. And I'm all out of Dust." Elin said quickly.

"What kind do you use?" I queried, reaching for a large pouch on my left thigh.

"Red and blue are fine, if you've got them but I'll work with anything at this point."

I looked in the pouch. There at the bottom were two small jars of red and blue Dust. "Here" I said handing them to him. "Now let's move. I can feel them closing in." I said putting on speed.

We showed up right as the Deathstalker Weiss had apparently trapped broke its stinger free of the ice to pursue the two groups. There was Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake, Jaune, the red haired warrior girl, a bubbly orange haired girl and a black haired boy in green. As the Deathstalker passed us after them, the four of us ran to the Temple.

The relics were large chess pieces. Ah, the irony.

Elise and I grabbed the two black knight pieces and smiled at each other. "Now all we have to do is reach the top of the cliff again."

Elin smiled. "No problem."

Then the packs of Beowolves found us.

"Oh look, they brought friends." Elin said sarcastically, looking at the two King Taijitu's that slithered up with the Beowolves. A black one and a white one. They were larger than I had seen in a while.

Aiya.

"Elin, Elise can you take the snakes for a little? Peyton take as many of the wolves down as you can." I snapped. Everyone nodded and went to work.

Orchid was already in bladed staff mode but with the dozen or so Beowolves I needed more.

Peyton and I fought back to back. His style was much more strength base, using his impressive physical capabilities to decimate the Beowolves, while I danced with Orchid around them.

The leader was harder to kill than the others. It took effort on both mine and Peyton's parts to kill it.

It was weak from my fast attacks and Peyton's destructive charges but it took a hard round house kick with Orchids rifle blast behind it into Peyton as he charged with his blades ready to finally take the head off it.

They all lay dead but we were not finished.

Elise and Elin had done their best with the King Taijitu's. Gave us time to take out the Beowolves.

But snakes are hard to kill.

Elise's attacks were much like Peyton's, somehow she could move that enormous blade, the one she named Serenity, with enough strength behind it to do some damage, while Elin's style was much more like mine. Armed with his Dust infused whips, he danced, flaying his opponents with deadly speed. But they weren't enough.

"Peyton get them down side by side!" I yelled.

He did exactly that, leaping into the air and slamming his weight down on the two massive snakes side by side, with their eyes in perfect alignment.

"Elise!" I yelled but she already knew. "Got it!"

She hurled her mighty sword into the black King Taijitu's evil red eye where it stuck. It tried to buck but Peyton held it down with effort.

"Elin, fling me!" I cried running. He flicked his wrist and I felt the sting of the tip of his whip wrap around my left wrist. I leapt up, using Orchid's rifle to give me extra speed as Elin swung me in a great arc right as Elise's sword.

It would hurt. I had to use my right leg, but as I was swinging towards it, pain was the furthest thing from my mind.

I slammed my heel into the pommel of Elise's Serenity. With the combined power of the swing and my own speed, I hit it with enough force to slam it through the black and white King Taijitu's eyes.

Both were dead instantly, heads imploding and Serenity quivered in the tree where it had been embedded.

We were all too tired to speak but we nodded and laughed a little before walking away from our battlefield.

We heard the echoes of another fight and ran towards it. "We need a better vantage point." Elise said, pointing up above the ruins after she pulled Serenity from the tree.

It was the two groups we had seen earlier with the same monsters. Jaune and the other people I didn't know fought the Deathstalker.

While Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake fought the Nevermore.

With a last bit of effort, the four of us sprinted to the top of the cliff near the ruins. We watched as Jaune's group killed the Deathstalker with its own stinger. We all cheered. The Nevermore circled near us and I saw Yang leaping towards its open mouth.

I clicked Orchid's second trigger, took no time aiming and slammed her down.

Three nearly invisible knives shot from my staff. One missed and scraped its bony forehead. But two of them hit their targets. A Nevermore has four eyes, two on each side. Now that Nevermore was blind on one side.

No one saw me fire and I smiled a little. Orchid's secret was still safe.

Ruby, with the other three girls help, beheaded the Nevermore in a spectacular way. The four of us cheered wildly for them before making our way to the finish. I breathed a sigh of relief.

We had survived.


	3. Chapter 3

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Cardinal, led by Cardin Winchester." The four boy's faces were shown on the screen with the letters CRDL.

The teams were named today but we still didn't know our grades. I mean... none of us died so we all passed. I think.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Juniper, led by Jaune Arc."

Jaune looked shocked. I smiled. He would make a good leader if given the chance. Even Ozpin said congratulations. The letters JNPR were on the screen with their faces.

I now could put names to faces.

The blood red haired warrior girl was Pyrrha Nikos. A young celebrity

She wore her long hair in a waist length ponytail and wore a bronze circlet headpiece that ran around her head and under her bangs which two emerald teardrop pendants hung from thin chains looped near her ears.

Her attire was strategic and complicated. Her top was a brown leather corset that came around below her shoulder blade and nearly touched her collarbones before coming back down into a v neck. In the middle of the V the corset was light brown and on either side it was dark brown and it had bronze rivets in the sides. It maintained its shape so it must have been quite rigid and it ended just above her hips. She wore a short dark maroon colored skirt under a red drapery that wrapped around the skirt and created a long red tail that came of her right hip and ended at her feet. This was belted on by a brown leather belt with a spear-and-shield crest and had pouched attached to it on her left side.

She too wore a gorget but her was bronze and much prettier. She wore elaborate bronze armor. Greaves that started at her mid-thigh and came down as three pieces on each leg. One the wrapped around her muscular thigh, one covered her knee caps and one wrapped around her calves, disappearing into her boots. Beneath this armor she wore dark brown cuisses. On her arms she wore long dark maroon gloves that came to her upper arm. On her left arm she wore a bronze bracer that connected easily with her shield and a bronze arm band above the edge of her glove. Her boots were that same dark maroon color, tooled with bronze and came up to just below mid-calf.

She wore her weapons magnetized on her back within easy reach. Her red and gold spear and shield.

That one would need watching.

Lie Ren was the black haired boy with magenta eyes and the matching magenta streak in his bangs.

He wore his incredibly long black hair in a ponytail that reached his mid back. He had narrow eyes and calm features. He wore a forest green diagonally buttoned, long sleeved tail coat that is red on the inside and black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. I knew within those cuffs, his green automatic pistols were hidden. The trimming went down the right side of his body and he had a high black and gold collar.

He wore a black long sleeve shirt beneath his jacket, light tan pants and black shoes.

He would also bear watching.

Nora Valkyrie was the orange haired girl who was a little different inside who had hugged Ren after the announcement of their team.

She had short orange hair that reached the base of her neck and flared out in spiky waves from her skull and bright maniac turquoise eyes. Her clothing was unique, to say the least. She wore a collared black vest that ended at her waist and her emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt across it was in silver on her back and red and blue fabric connected the two sides of the front of the vest. Beneath the vest she wore a white sleeveless high neck shirt that formed a heart of skin between her cleavage and her collarbones. She wore a white detached sleeve on each arm and fingerless pink gloves on each hand. From beneath the vest, she wore a short pink sports skirt that ended just above her mid-thigh. She wore combat boots that were white with pink accents.

She also wore a steel harness type contraption that magnetized her weapon to her back, a massive war hammer that became a grenade launcher. There was a band that ran over the back of her neck and came down to meet the one that ran beneath her shoulder blades then ran under her bust line, framing her vest and her assets. Two stays ran from the bar beneath her bust to meet the part that wrapped around her waist for stability. The circle around her hips didn't met but stopped in the middle, in line with the heart in her clothes. It looked like two upside down hammers. On the bar around her hips on her back was a big light blue bow whose tails reached a little past the edge of her skirts.

I'd be insane not to keep a careful eye on that one.

Pyrrha, who had beautiful green eyes, accidentally punched Jaune's shoulder a little too hard and knocked her leader down. JNPR would be truly interesting to see.

"Peyton Summers, Elise Thayet, Elin Thayet, Dahlia Derivalle."

Blake's head whipped around and stared in shock as my name was called. I didn't look at her though. My attention was on Professor Ozpin.

"You four retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Deep." Our faces appeared on the screen and I thought I would cry. I made it. The initials DEEP appeared on the screen with our faces. I was really now a part of Beacon Academy. "Led by Dahlia Derivalle."

Elise hugged me before I knew what was happening. Me? I was the leader?

Elin hugged me too and then Peyton wrapped his enormous arms around all of us and lifted us into a bear hug. "Peyton... Peyton. We can't breathe." Elin gasped. He set us down sheepishly and we made way for the last team.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Ruby, led by Ruby Rose." Ruby looked stunned. The letter RWBY entered the screen with their faces. We all cheered but none louder than my team. Yang hugged her little sister. "I'm so proud of you!" She shouted.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." I smiled.

Yes, they were. And I couldn't wait.

As the teams left the stage, Professor Ozpin stopped me from leaving. "Well done, Ms. Derivalle." He whispered, placing two knives in my hand discreetly.

They were cleaned and polished. I blushed and walked away quickly.

These were the two knives that had blinded the Nevermore.

It was interesting though, how the Professor kept my secret.

The thought made me smile.

* * *

After the ceremony, everyone rushed to grab rooms. Each team shared a room so I sent my three teammates to grab one and asked Elise to put my stuff in it too.

There was someone I wanted to see.

It didn't take me long to find her.

"Hello, Blake." I murmured coming up behind her in the corner of the library. She leapt from her chair, her olive toned skin turning sheet white. "My dear, you look as if you'd seen a ghost." I whispered.

I saw her throat working and tears filled her amber eyes. "I think I have."

Oh, I had missed her so much.

She still wore the outfit we designed many years ago. Though the bow was new. She wore black low heel boots and stocking that started off black at her hips but gradually faded to purple as the neared her shoes. On the outside of her stockings at the top was the light purple crest that were Belladonna flowers I drew for her. Black ribbons were wound about her forearms, and on her left upper arm she wore a black detached sleeve held by a hammered silver cuff.

She wore a black button vest with coattails and a white sleeveless undershirt that exposes part of her midriff much like Yang's outfit. Her white shorts are tucked into her leggings and the vest was belted to her stockings with black straps. Around her neck was a tightly wound black scarf.

On her back was the metal plate that magnetized her weapon, Gambol Shroud, to her back.

"Dahlia..." She tried to say. "In the flesh." I interrupted, stepping towards her.

I was taller than her by a few inches, even though she had grown since I had last seen her.

Her long wavy hair was longer than I remembered and her figure was fuller. On her head was a little black bow that hid her secret.

"Why are you here?" She cried quietly.

"Same as you. I want to live, Blake. I want to be normal. I want friends who care about me. I want to learn who I really am without wondering all the time if it was really me doing these things or the people who created me pulling my puppet strings. I'm tired of being the lone wolf." I said harshly, tears filling my eyes. "I want to live, Blake."

She reached out hesitantly and touched my cheek. Making sure I wasn't a ghost come to haunt her.

"How did you escape?" I smiled through the tears.

I gripped her by the shoulders. "You've grown up so much."

She smiled and slowly slid into my embrace, resting her head on my shoulder.

"I've missed you, little sister." I murmured into her ear.

"I've missed you too." She said, sobbing quietly. "I never thought I'd see you again."

I shushed her and we slowly sat down together, much like we had as children in the few moments we had to ourselves, my arms wrapped around her as I slowly petted her hair and began to Heal the heart-wounds that I could.

We talked as if the years spent apart didn't matter. And when Blake could not cry anymore and there wasn't a wound left that I could heal, I kissed her forehead and sent her to bed.

"We'll be fine, Blake. We are the best at keeping secrets aren't we?" I said with a weary smile.

She smiled and nodded. "Goodnight, Dahlia."

I grabbed Orchid from where I had left her propped against the wall.

"Goodnight, Blake."

I blew out the candles and listened to her quietly pad to her room.

Outside the library, as I was making my way to the room Elise had messaged me was now ours, I caught the feelings of someone in a secluded garden veiled and hidden by thick trains of ivy and sections of lush vegetation. If I hadn't known someone was inside, I never would have known it was there. I pulled aside some of the ivy and looked in. He stood by a little undisturbed pool that sparkled beautifully in the broken moonlight. Someone was talking.

"Professor?" I called. He stopped talking and turned.

"Ah, Ms. Derivalle. Just who I was thinking about. Come in, come in, I'm just rambling to myself. This is one of my favorite spots to visit on nights like these."

I smiled and came into the lovely place, the curtain of ivy falling behind me to shield the garden again.

"And how goes your night, Ms. Derivalle?" He asked gently. Maybe he noticed the trembling hands?

"Emotional. And please, call me Dahlia." I said, leaning heavily on Orchid.

"Initiation day is always emotional for me too." He said. I smiled at him. My initial fear of him eased. His face and demeanor were stoic and affable, and I sensed in him pain but also deep caring and compassion.

"I was glad to have made it through it." I replied. His eyes were filled with mirth. "I knew you'd be fine. Others I wasn't so sure about." We met each other's eyes.

"Jaune." We said at the same time. We laughed ourselves breathless. "He'll do fine if he can learn to quit second guessing himself." I said once I stopped chuckling.

"He will. But he will need help. They all will." He said, suddenly lost in thought.

Yes they will, I thought. I thought of my own team. My new pack. Of little fiery Elise, sarcastic Elin and bumbling Peyton with a surge of maternal feeling.

"We are a lucky school to have accepted such capable warriors." He said smiling at me. I blushed. "Especially those with such highly respect friends." I cursed inwardly, knowing that the old bastard had smoothed my way in somehow.

"We are lucky to have a Headmaster that knows his warriors strengths so well." He in turn hid a pleased smile and a slight blush across his striking cheekbones.

I ran a hand through my hair in an unconscious imitation of the lovely Yang.

"You are very beautiful, Dahlia. I hope you take no offense." He said, a little embarrassed to have spoken so thoughtlessly.

I touched the edge of my jaw, turning redder and redder. "I take none. I do not get many who like the way I look. Too many think I'm an old woman or a child." I said looking at him sideways. "I've never seen a woman look the way you do." He said quietly, with that thoughtful look on his face.

"And you never will. I'm a one of a kind, Professor Ozpin." I said.

"I'll call you Dahlia in personal space if you'll call me by my nickname."

I raised a starlit eyebrow at him and smiled. "Nickname? Not first. More mysteries, Professor?"

He chuckled. "Indeed. Call me Oz when we are alone?" He said turning to fully face me.

I nodded. "When alone."

I leaned on my staff and he on his cane which looking at it's odd handle, made me think that perhaps that was the Headmaster's weapon. I began to chuckle. "What is it?" He asked, wanting to know the joke. I shook my head. He might be offended if I compare myself to him. "I want to laugh too." He murmured, taking a step towards me.

"I was just thinking. I'm leaning on my walking staff and you on your cane..." He laughed. "I feel like that could be the opening line to a really bad joke." I laughed too. "I haven't laughed this much in ages." I said "Me neither. We should do this more often." I nodded but I couldn't hold back my yawn.

"You should get to sleep. Tomorrow is your first real day and it should be an adventure." He said warmly. The moonlight reflected off the pool and the light and shadows made his face devastatingly handsome.

I smiled at him and met his gentle oak brown eyes. I liked his spectacles. They were plain wire and small dark circular lenses. They sat perched on his narrow nose and the wire near the lenses zigzagged up and down before becoming straight again near his high cheekbones.

"It's been a real pleasure, Oz." I said huskily, much to my dismay. I held out my hand and he took it gently by the fingers turning my knuckles up.

He lower his head to press his lips to my hand. His tousled gray hair fell and I wanted to brush it away from his face but that seemed too... intimate.

"The pleasures all mine, Dahlia."

He noticed the tattoo on my right forearm.

I had gotten it done when I was sixteen. "A black dahlia?" He murmured. I nodded slowly.

"My little sister drew it for me a long time ago since I had never seen one. I got her drawing tattooed on me. As a remembrance." I said looking at the black flowers on the pale expanse of my arm. It was a beautiful drawing.

It was a dahlia and a belladonna flower whose stems were connected by a flowing pattern of leaves. A few petals were drawn floating away down my arm around my wrist. Thankfully he didn't make the connection.

"Lovely. Do you have any other tattoos?" He asked eyeing the one on my hip.

"You know I do. I drew this one myself." I said pulling my cloak away to reveal my starkly beautiful tattoo and my pale soft skin.

Maybe I enjoyed showing him my figure a little too much?

"Orchids? I've got a little plant growing up in my office." I smiled. The tattoo was one I drew that I got done for my eighteenth birthday. The beautiful black orchids grew up from my left hip, below my pant line, flowering out toward my belly button and around my ribs toward my shoulder blade, accentuating that gorgeous S-curve of my waist.

"You are quite the artist." He said admiringly. "Thank you."

Then I sighed. "See you tomorrow morning, Professor Ozpin?"

He nodded, straightening his back. "Of course, Ms. Derivalle."

I began to turn away.

"If the weather is good, perhaps we can meet here again... soon." He murmured. I turned smiling. "Very soon, Oz. You should get some sleep too." I said gently.

"I don't sleep very well."

I smiled ever so gently, understanding him with a hidden part of my soul.

"Then take this." I said reaching inside my healing pouch and pulling out a white tea bag. "What is it?"

"Tea to help you sleep. I don't sleep well either but this does help. It can keep the nightmares at bay and let you get some rest." I said taking his hand and putting the tea bag in it.

His eyes for a moment showed the deep, dark pain in him. Even Blake didn't hold as much as this poor man. What nightmares plagued his sleep so?

I folded his fingers over the bag and held his hands in mine.

"Sweet dreams, Oz." I murmured before limping away. "Oh… and thank you… for keeping the knives a secret."

I didn't turn around to see his smile, in case he could see the brilliant blush across my face. Just vanished into the darkness beyond the beautiful little corner of Beacon Academy.

Back in my room, my team was asleep on mats. Tomorrow I would commission our furniture and we would begin setup.

I spent a long time staring at the ceiling pondering my flirtation with a man who was possibly twice my age. It was hard to tell exactly how old he was. His pain spoke of great age but his heart felt young.

Then I examined the lightness in my heart and decided that his age didn't matter to me. What mattered was the things inside him that made me smile. I waited for sleep.

Yet for hours long I stared into darkness, imagining a future that could be so much different, and so much better, than my past.


	4. Chapter 4

At dawn I rose, tidied up, stretched, showered and dressed in our school uniform. A white collared pleated blouse with a red string bow tie, a brick red button corset vest, a maroon jacket with gold trim on the hem and the collar flaps with a single gold button and a thigh length pleated red, black and gold plaid skirt. We also had ugly yet comfortable maroon colored shoes to wear. You had to wear something black like socks, pants or leggings too. I wore knee high black socks.

When the sun started to rise, I woke the rest of my team up, starting with Elise since she took the longest to wake up fully and she was cranky in the morning.

"Elise. Wake up dear, first day of school. You get the shower first." I whispered. She eyed me, groaned, rolled over and stumbled to the shower.

"I'm glad you can wake her up without getting eaten alive." Elin said groggily. I smiled at him. "You have shower next." He nodded and stood up stretching.

"Our uniforms came last night. Pretty snazzy huh?" I said holding out the hem of my skirt. "Mhmm, pretty snazzy." Was the sleepy reply from unexpectedly Peyton.

"Well, my two boys are up without much effort so that's good." I said smiling.

"Oh, we are your boys now?" Was the sarcastic reply from Elin. "Of course. You're my pack. You are all mine now." I stated.

"Yes, oh fearless leader." Elin said at the same time Peyton muttered, "We're in trouble now."

"I'll go get us breakfast. First day and all. Unless you guys want to go to the cafeteria?" I said uncertainly. I had always eaten alone. "Mmmm. Breakfast in bed…" Peyton said into his pillow. Elin grinned and I nodded. "I'm off then." They nodded back and Peyton stood up and stretched his massive muscles.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Elin looking at Peyton strangely. I didn't say anything. Just stored the memory away for further reflection.

Grabbing Orchid from the wall, I moved quietly to the kitchen which was already bustling.

I was greeted by a happy, portly bald man who moved with surprising speed.

"Oh! It's so rare that we have a leader like yourself. And such a nice young lady too! Wait here, I'll prepare something for you and your teammates, Miss, ah...uh..." I smiled shyly at the man who was obviously the Head Chef.

"Dahlia. Dahlia Derivalle. Pleasure to meet you." I said extending my hand. He kissed my knuckles and I made another mental note to ask someone if this was a cultural norm or if I was being punked?

"Medro Xingu." He said before vanishing into a throng of bakers and chefs. I waited for a little while, observing the interactions in such a large kitchen.

Medro returned with a young boy holding a massive tray full of food.

"This is my son, Medro as well but we call him Med. He will carry the tray for you and wait till you are done and then carry it back." I smiled at the boy who grinned back happily.

"Thank you, Medro. I'm sure it will be delicious. Come Med, I've got hungry boys." I said turning. I waved and limped down the hall with a happy seven year old trailing at my heels.

Back at the room, I found Elise clean and dressed waiting impatiently for food. She looked adorable in her uniform. The smell of deliciousness filled our room. Peyton was showering now. But it didn't take long for him to come out ready to eat.

I ate a small bowl of fruit, taking special joy in the blackberries in it, warm bread and some of my morning tea.

Medro had put just enough to fill everyone's bellies without leaving leftovers. The man was a genius.

"Thank you, Med. You can take the tray back now." Med smiled, bowed and left with the tray of empty dishes.

My mug of tea had the Beacon symbol on it, just like Oz's.

I blushed remembering last night's late night conversation. What a fool I am. He was just being kind to one of his student's.

"So, fearless leader. What's on the agenda?" Elin said happily rubbing his tummy.

The men's uniforms were crisp collared long sleeve button down skirts, bright red tie, blue under-vests, black suit jacket with gold trim and two buttons, black pants, black socks and the same maroon shoes except without the heel the girl's shoes had.

Peyton and Elin cut quite a figure in theirs.

"Well, we've had breakfast. Our first class is at nine which is in an hour. So I guess I'll go order our furniture so it'll be in this afternoon. We'll set up and decorate after all of our classes. Sound good?" I said pulling my planner out of my messenger bag. It was black with gold trim and the Beacon logo stitched in gold on it. We all had gotten one to carry our school things in as well as a 'starter kit' for those of us who had come woefully unprepared for the school aspect. Things like pencils, pens, notebooks, a planner and such.

"Sounds good to me." Elise said, sitting down in front of Elin who began to braid her long blonde hair.

"Okay, I'll meet you guys in class. Remember nine o'clock in hall 401. Elin, make sure they get there on time." I said. He nodded smiling. Peyton was happily watching Elin braid Elise's hair when I walked out with Orchid in my hand and my messenger bag on my left shoulder.

It took me a little while to find the housing hall but luckily it took very little time to order our furniture. I just wrote down what we needed and what room to deliver to and turned it into a stern lady at a wooden desk.

We needed four beds, four chests, four chairs, a large bookcase, a nightstand, a lamp and a waste basket.

I had just enough time to make it to class five minutes early. Thankfully Elin had thought the same and my team was there and had a spot saved for me.

Thus went the rest of the day, till our last class with Professor Peter Port came.

Professor Port was there writing on his chalk boards.

Above the boards was Professor Port's old weapon of choice. A blunderbuss and axe combo. The double axe head was mounted on the butt of the gun, bringing the blades in perilous close contact with the wielder's face. But Professor Port was still alive and had all his limbs so the design wasn't too faulty or else portly Professor Port wouldn't be alive to teach us.

Team RWBY and Team JNPR made it a minute before class started, out of breath but safe. Just as they had for a majority of the classes Dahlia had seen them in.

"Good thing we got here early." Peyton said happily. There was a joy in his eyes that had been growing in him all day. I had been trying to figure it out but Peyton was surprisingly elusive.

Professor Port began his lecture before I could try again.

"Monsters! Demons. Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey. Ha Hah!" He said in his deep voice. His attempt to seem powerful and brave fell short due to his thick white mustache that cover both his lips while talking, his dense, swooping eyebrows, his bushy gray comb over and his sad physical state; a once muscular body was now pudgy and soft.

No one laughed at his joke. So he continued with his rather pointless introduction. "And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now as I was saying, Vale as well as the other three kingdoms are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces... and that's where we come in. Huntsman! Huntresses!" He said the latter with a rather awkward wink at Yang. She rolled her eyes. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why, the very world!"

Elise's eyes rolled back. "Oh, brother." She muttered. _I hope this pompous windbag can do something other than recount tales of his exploits._

"That is what you are training to become. But first a story. A tale of a young, handsome man… Me!" I closed my eyes. I had thought too soon.

"When I was a boy..." I tuned out quickly from his story and copied all of the notes and sketches of the creatures of Grimm down into my school notebook. To eat up time, my sketches were as detailed as an artist could get them.

He cleared his throat and startled me back into class, as he looked at team RWBY who had been giggling quietly.

"In the end the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero." He finished with emotion before bowing to an uncaring audience. "The moral of this story: A true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated and wise. So. Who among you believes themselves the embodiment of these traits?"

Immediately, Weiss Schnee put her hand in the air and angrily said, "I do, sir!" The look on her face was murderous and it didn't take an extra sense to know who it was directed at.

"Well then. Let's find out." Professor Port said looking at the cage he had in the corner of the room. "Step forward and face your opponent."

The blood red eyes that stared out full of malice and hate.

Weiss changed out of her uniform into her normal attire and face the cage, sword drawn. Team RWBY shouted encouragement but Ruby's cheers seemed only to enraged the girl below. The creature in the cage snorted and squealed.

"Ah, he brought a Boarbatusk." Elin whispered conversationally.

"Let the match begin!" Professor Port said, striking the lock off the cage with his blunderbuss axe. The hog inside was intent to kill.

All seemed to be going well, when Weiss made an error and somehow got her sword stuck between the evil pig's tusks. Orchid was aimed and my finger was on her second trigger. Perhaps I was being paranoid but Professor Port simply didn't have my reflexes.

Ruby made a comment I didn't hear and Weiss lost her concentration. The Boarbatusk threw the sword behind it and knocked Weiss to the ground. I stood up afraid and as did my whole team.

"Now what will you do without your weapon?" Professor Port said genially. I could have ripped his throat out with my teeth. The pig charged but Weiss was fast enough to dodge and get to her sword. She shouted at another of Ruby's encouragements to stop tell her what to do. I sensed the built up rage and resentment in the statement.

The Boarbatusk began its most powerful attack. It was aptly named the Wheel of Death. The boar somersaulted faster and faster till it charged towards Weiss at unstoppable speeds.

She moved her hands in a way and beneath her feet a glyph appeared. I had forgotten Weiss' Semblance.

It formed a shield which knocked the pig on its back and one more glyph gave Weiss a backboard mid-air to stab it in the belly.

Weiss was breathing hard but alive. I didn't realize how tense I was till Elise loosened my grip on Orchid and made me sit down.

"Bravo. Bravo. It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and, stay vigilant! Class dismissed." Professor Port finished. I watched the interactions between Weiss and Ruby, feeling the tension grow worse and worse between the two of them.

Finally Weiss sheathed her blade and stalked away. "Sheesh, what's with her?" I heard a subdued Jaune asked.

I think I know, I thought to myself tiredly.

"C'mon, team. We've got a room to set up." I said, reaching for my bag, when Peyton grabbed it for me. "I gotcha, fearless leader."

I smiled and together we made our way back to our room.

We were overjoyed to find our furniture there and since I had been the first to order, we got the good stuff. Dark, rich woods, freshly polished.

Apparently, someone had already done basic set up but we decided to change a few things around to our liking. I got the bed against the wall, farthest from the door. No one questioned my choice and we all enjoyed setting up our personal spaces. The night stand and lamp went between the two middle beds, right in the window. Someone had been thoughtful and gave us dark blue curtains that could be drawn off to the side during the day to let in the daylight. We had a beautiful view of the carefully tended landscapes within the Academy. If I looked I could see the private corner at the end of a winding path just past the library.

I looked to the slowly darkening skies. What a first day.

"What are you looking at?" Elise asked looking out with me. "This place is so beautiful, Ely. Have you ever seen something so beautiful?" Elise smiled. "Back home, there is this path that if you're brave enough to go all the way, there is a huge roaring waterfall that when the sun shines you can see a rainbow.

"I'd love to see that." I said imagining it.

"I'll take you. You can come home with me and Elin during the next break and I'll show you everything." Elise said easily as if she were offering to let me borrow a pen.

Not what I craved with all my being.

Seeing the normal, beautiful world, being normal and with my friends. Normal.

"Promise?" I asked excitedly.

Elise smiled sweetly. For all her anger and temper, Elise was my best friend. She had been the first person to talk to me and the one girl who actually always seemed happy to see me.

The moon began to rise.

"Promise." She said grabbing my hand. "And I never break a promise." She said seriously.

"She really doesn't." Elin said from his bed. "She's literally never broken a promise." I grinned at him. He was already in his pajamas, ready for bed. "Early to bed, early to rise. Sorry Dahlia but you wake up really early."

I shrugged. "Early for you. It's right on time for me."

Peyton snorted.

I got into my night dress and wound my hair up with a long silver ribbon even though I had no intention of sleeping yet. Perhaps Oz would be at the garden tonight. It would be rude of me not to check, I reasoned.

Once I clicked the lamp off I laid down and waited for everyone's breathing to slow down before quietly slipping from the room.

It was a chilly night but excitement heated my blood. I had never snuck out of bed before. Omar would have thrashed me if I had even thought about it.

It didn't take me very long to reach the little secluded garden.

I stepped inside and felt a prick of disappointment that no one was there. But I looked up at the nearly full moon and breathed deep, just enjoying the freedom. I wanted to howl at the broken moon but something told me that doing so would be inappropriate and would draw unwanted attention.

A little wind blew through the trees and for once the noise didn't scare me.

Beacon was safe.

I wasn't afraid of the things that made noises in the dark, the monsters Professor Port spoke of.

I was one of the monsters that went bump in the night.

Even worse, I was a monster you never heard coming.

And with that, the night turned dark and the pain crept in. So many memories. So much evil.

A tear fell down my cheek as I stared up at the broken moon, and mourned the terror I had caused. I felt the self-hatred I had fought against since I had been old enough to understand what I was.

"_I don't want to be a monster_." I whispered to the night.

Every healing I did, didn't make up for the lives I had taken. Good karma doesn't cancel out bad. Just balances it.

That's why I wanted to be a Huntress. To even the score a bit. Good to balance out the bad first nineteen years. To maybe, for once, be the hero in the story.

The old bastard believed I could do it and if anyone understood redemption, it was him.

Then I sighed and wiped the tears off my face.

The night was cold and Oz wasn't here.

I untied my hair and walked to a pale beech tree whose branches hung low enough for me to tie the ribbon around it without getting on my tip toes.

It was a nice tree.

And the long silver ribbon swayed gently in the breeze, catching the light of the moon.

He would know that I had come.

My scroll beeped as I limped back to my room and I looked at it, my eyebrows raising with surprise. The message was short and concise. Not wordy or filled with emotions that would have made me feel overwhelmed since I was already emotional.

_Bastard: Hope you're doing well in school, pup._

My mouth twisted in a wry smile. How sweet. He knew how much I despised being called pup. I never should have told him the secret but he already knew so many, strangely enough, he was the best person to tell them to.

It was… nice…

It was nice of him to check up on me. He didn't have to. I half expected him to try and forget that I existed after he made sure I got into the school. For all his crookedness, the old bastard was still a Huntsman and was still kind. Not something one expected from him. So I typed him back a quick response and continued to my room where I curled up and promptly fell into a restless sleep.

_Me: Thanks, bastard. Keep out of trouble._


	5. Chapter 5

In the weeks that followed, I learned much.

School was thrilling and we were beginning to move into true combat practice. I had yet to volunteer to be a practice show for my class. I decided to wait until called upon. But the rest of my team went and showed a prowess that was hard to come by. My weakest link was Peyton. He was clumsy and didn't strategize very well. But luckily Peyton was strong and big and once he learned something he never forgot how to do it perfectly.

And my team was all for my idea.

I had skills that wouldn't be taught in class, so I talked it over with the other three and I created a personalized secret training program, based off my old training; except without the fear and the pain of punishment if one failed. Every evening after dinner, we would meet in an old training center that had long been shut down by the school and we would practice techniques that weren't normally taught.

And my friends never asked me where I had learned these things.

I didn't see Oz again, even though on clear nights, after my secret training with my own team, I'd still go out and enjoy the night air in my special garden. I'd take my sketchbook and sketch by moonlight.

My ribbon though was not where I had tied it.

So sometime, he had come and found it. The thought made me happy.

I would sit beneath the pale beech tree and think about things I normally wouldn't because they hurt too badly. Yet in the garden, beneath that tree, I began to try and heal some of my own heart-and-soul wounds.

It didn't really ever work but at least I could try.

My bonds with my teammates grew stronger and I had an immense feeling of contentment around them. What they didn't realize is the deeper the bond, the more attuned to them I began to be. So it didn't take me long to figure out what had been going on since our first days together.

Elin and Peyton cared for each other beyond a simple friendship.

Elise knew too. We had spoken of it on several occasions but Elin believed that she and I still thought he was straight as an arrow. He flirted with me constantly, as if to prove something. Whenever he did, Peyton's face would go blank.

I couldn't figure out the problem though.

If they liked each other, why shouldn't they be together?

So one day, when Peyton was talking to Doctor Oobleck and I sent Elise on a long round about trip, I was alone with Elin.

"Elin... I have question. And you can't get mad at me for asking." I said. He smiled at me and placed a bookmark in the book he had been reading.

"Go for it."

I took a deep breath. "Elin, you know I'm a healer. You know I've got extra senses." He nodded.

"So you know that I can feel things from you..." He nodded slower, growing more cautious as I continued.

I groped for words. My few social skills didn't extend to these kinds of things.

"Do you have feelings for Peyton?" I blurted out.

He looked like I had slapped him.

"W-What?" He whispered.

I came and sat down next to him on the bed and put my arm around him.

"I asked. Do you have feelings for Peyton? And I'm not talking about friendship or brotherly feelings either." I said gently.

His throat worked convulsively. I had never seen Elin look so scared. He shrank, as if he was trying to blend in with the covers around him. "Y-Y-Yes." He stuttered as tears filled his sweet brown eyes. I smiled and hugged him tightly. "Good."

His breathing was harsh. "Good? Good?! I'm a freak! Boys aren't supposed to like boys!" I grabbed his shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Why not?" My voice was dead serious.

"Well, because..."

"Why can't boys care about each other? Why should two people not be allowed to be together because of their gender?" I said, thinking of my tentative feelings for Yang.

"Elin, there is no reason you can give me why you and Peyton can't be together. I think I care about Yang beyond the point of friendship." He looked at me confused. "Busty blonde on team RWBY." I stated saucily with a raised eyebrow. He gave me a tearful chuckle.

"Peyton cares for you deeply and you him. He's handsome and strong and kind. You are not a freak. Caring for someone should never be labeled as freakish. Now. If you had feeling for say, an Ursa or worse, Martris, then I would draw the line and call you weird. But Peyton is a wonderful person and your sister and I wholeheartedly approve."

He gasped. "Elise knows?"

I snorted. "She knew before I did."

The fight drained out of him. There were no more barriers. "But what will people think?" He whined.

"Do you honestly think I care about what ANYONE else has to think about it? I'm your leader. If I'm okay with it and Elise is okay with it, then who else really matters?" I was winning and I could feel the hope growing in him.

"But they'll go after you! You ARE my leader. They'll blame you for allowing it and say things and- and-" I tapped his chin and he shut up.

"Let them come after me. They are insignificant. You are what matters to me. You, Elise and Peyton are the most important things in my world. You're my pack. You have to realize that you three were my first friends I had ever made in my life. I've had comrades and family but they never liked me and I never cared for most of them. I've always been the lone wolf. You like me and respect me and it's real. Real friendship. I had never had it till you guys blundered in and took my heart." I hugged him again, sparking the hope to flare into a fire that warmed his heart and soul.

"And if anyone does anything to you... well, they'll face me on the battlefield... and if there is anything left of them when I'm done... I'll leave them for Elise." I grinned wickedly.

"Oh, you mean, mean darling." He said laughing, wiping his eyes. He hugged me tightly and something inside of him that had been previously broken, clicked into place. He was happy. Then Elise came in and saw the hugging and threw herself at us.

She looked at me and I nodded, grinning ear to ear.

"You finally admitted it!" She said, slamming into the two of us and kissing her twins cheek.

"What do you mean?" He saw pushing her off a little. "Elin, I knew when we were little that you weren't like the other boys in our town. You liked to play dolls with me and do my hair and makeup and paint my nails and let me do the same to you but I always worried that you wouldn't find anyone right for you. And now you have and I'm so happy!" She squealed.

Elin was dumbfounded.

"But, rule number one." Elise was right down to business. "No weird stuff while we are in the room. Holding hands, I'm fine with. Easy kisses? Fine. Don't make out with me in the room. That's weird. And no... Other stuff. If you are gonna do that… uh, tie a red ribbon on the door handle and we'll stay out." Elise stated as bluntly as only Elise could. I agreed and Elin blushed and nodded.

We made it a general rule about relationships. The red light for the other members was a red ribbon tied on the door handle and a locked door. We wanted no awkward walk-ins.

After all, I was nineteen, Peyton was almost eighteen and Elin and Elise were seventeen. Practically adults with… adult experiences in mind.

Elise and I made ourselves scarce when I felt Peyton coming.

Elin was buzzing with excitement and nerves when we left.

"Thank you so much Dally, for doing that for him. Too long he's been lonely. He and Peyton will be good for each other." Elise said smiling happily. There seemed to be a direct correlation between one twins mood and the others mood. If one was happy that other was happy, if something was wrong with one twin, the other acted accordingly.

I hooked my arm around the tiny girl's shoulders and she wrapped her arm around my waist like how we always walked and we walked to the library talking happily as Elin and Peyton became an official couple.

Now, I just had to steel myself for the storm that would blow up over it, because I would be their protector. And if it took me stepping onto a battlefield so to speak to defend them, so be it.

I felt sorry for whoever spoke up first. Because whatever I started… Elise would finish.


	6. Chapter 6

Jaune got beaten again. It made me sad to see him lose and infuriated me to see Cardin Winchester win. I had recently learned of Martris' younger brother Cardin. The only difference to the boys was their height and their hair. Martris still topped Cardin by a few inches and Martris grew his hair out a little longer than Cardin's short hair.

Martris used a massive battle-axe, something that only Elise and maybe Peyton could wield and Martris, when I watched him fight, had shrewd intelligence that gave him a distinct advantage. He had cunning and strength and that made him a dangerous opponent. He wasn't the leader of his team though surprisingly enough. His team leader was a boy that even I found terrifying.

Perhaps because I saw a little of Omar in him.

"We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf now would we?" Huntress Goodwitch said gently to the downed Jaune.

"Speak for yourself." Cardin said sarcastically. I had watched Cardin fight and he showed none of his brother's cunning in battle but he tried to make up for it with pure brute strength.

I felt Jaune's low Aura and wished I could help.

"Remember everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the Combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

Ah, the Vytal Festival. I had heard much about it. I was looking forward to it but not as much as Elise. She was doing extra training to be ready for the tournament. I didn't mind her doing that. It put an edge on her skills that gave the team an advantage and it never interfered with my team's secret combat training. We mainly practiced in the late evenings anyways, so that we didn't disturb our usual schedule and or alert anyone to the fact that team DEEP was doing special combat operations. Peyton created our Protocol's for when we fought and the entire team learned them and learned well and fast.

I saw Jaune's dejection and almost went to him but I sensed he would not welcome my presence.

Over the weeks of school and training, I had become tentative friends with the members of team RWBY and team JNPR.

It made me happy to be closer to Blake without looking like I already knew her and it gave me a chance to talk to Yang.

At lunch after the practice, we all got the full force of Nora's quirkiness as she recounted the augmented version of a recurring dream. Ren knew the dream already and kept correcting the exaggerations.

I was silently reading along with Blake, while Elise consumed her weight in chicken and Peyton and Elin remained in a deep conversation about a subject they had talked about in class.

Jaune's sadness pressed on me like a wave. Luckily Ruby had also seen his mood and was attempting to pull him out of it.

And then there was Pyrrha's overwhelming concern tinged with longing.

Ugh, so many feeling that weren't mine.

I got up to grab another bowl of food and left Ruby and Pyrrha to get Jaune out of his funk.

I heard mean laughter on my way but I saw a beautiful bowl of blackberries that I made a rush to grab.

"Ow, that hurts!" A sweet voice yelled. I felt ice in my veins when I turned and saw Cardin tormenting a lovely little Faunus girl, named Velvet, who had long brown rabbit ears. "Please let go." She whispered with tears in her eyes. "I told you they were real." He said instead of releasing her. "What a freak." Was Russel's reply.

He had a hold of her left ear and was pulling on it much to his team's enjoyment. I could see pain and humiliation in the girl's soft brown eyes and I didn't remember crossing the room but there I was, a growl rumbling deep in my chest.

I whipped Orchid's silver length down on the table causing everyone to jump from the ear splitting crack that silenced the lunchroom. I was centered on both feet, rage and pain feeding me. "Let her go. Now." I said in a harsh voice that seemed to echo in the silence.

Cardin's hand let go and Velvet stepped back away from him, holding her hand to the base of her ear.

I looked Cardin in the eyes, dead faced. "Touch her again, and next time, I'll crack your skull open instead of the table." For I had cracked the table with the force of my blow.

"Hey! Grandma!" I heard a familiar voice say. "Get away from my brother." I turned, a little drunk on my anger. "Ah, Martris I had forgotten that bad manners ran in your family. Thank you for reminding me." I said smiling at the furious boy before turning to Velvet who was trembling.

"Come on dear, let me have a look at that ear. I'll give you something for the pain." I hooked an arm around her shoulder and guided her out shooting one last glare at Cardin before walking away with sweet Velvet. Behind me, voices started talking again. I didn't listen. My anger still whispered in my ears to kill him. One knife and he'd stop being a problem permanently.

But Velvet was my main concern and her care came first. Not only that but killing someone, as I had learned, was not an acceptable form of retaliation.

In my room, I examined her ear, healed it and gave her a salve to soothe the pain.

"Thank you. I don't know how to thank you enough." She said quietly. I smiled at her, showing my teeth. "It was really a pleasure to put Cardin in his place." Her face changed when she saw my fangs.

"You're a.. a..."

"Yes, like you. Mum was a wolf. Now, tell me what hurts you so." I said sitting down on the bed with her. She began to speak of the tortures she had endured over the years, even the ones here at Beacon though she said that at Beacon things were much better than the outside world. As she talked, I Healed.

And at the end, some of the rough edges inside the gentle rabbit girl were smoothed out.

"Velvet, I have spoken with many people. You are liked and admired by the people you care about most. Your team holds your skills in very high regard and your teachers say you are thoughtful and intelligent." I placed a hand on her cheek.

"You are not a freak. You are a beautiful girl with a kind soul and you're a one in a million kind of mage. You've got something great to contribute to the world. Don't give up because there are stupid people trying to bring you down, especially when they are a year or two behind you. They are only trying to bring you down because you are already above them." I said smiling.

The hope flared and the happiness settled in.

I had earned another friend.

"C'mon, we've got to get to class." I said grabbing my bag and Orchid.

She was walking with me down the hall when she hesitantly asked about my leg. I smiled at her and almost didn't answer but she looked me in the eyes. She needed to know.

"Some very bad people hurt me over and over in the same place on my leg to the point where my body couldn't fix it anymore. So now it always hurts and I can never heal it. That why I have Orchid. I need her to walk. I can't do it on my own anymore except in the heat of battle." She was fascinated by my use of pain to feed my own power.

"I wish I was as brave as you." She said just outside of Doctor Oobleck's classroom. I ran a hand down her soft downy brown hair.

"You're here, aren't you? You're braver than you think." I said before pushing open the doors.

Today our discussion was the Faunus Rights Revolution. _Aiya._

Professor Oobleck was a frazzle brained intellectual, who drank way too much coffee. His bright green hair always looked like he had been in a tornado, his shirt was half untucked, his collar eschew and his tie, loose and off center. His wire framed glasses barely stayed on his face he moved so quickly. But for all that he was a fascinating man with an incredible memory.

He and I had had many long, in depth discussions over the different events in history that shaped the present.

"Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He tapped his large paper covered map at the small continent to the extreme south-east of the world.

"Now, while this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events. Repercussions of the uprisings can still be seen to this day." He took a large sip of coffee after not breathing to say any of that.

"Now, have any among you ever been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage." Velvet looked at me and I nodded to her. She slowly raised her hand as well as several others in the class.

"Dreadful, simply, dreadful. Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence." He said taking any gulp of his coffee.

_You said it, Doctor._

"I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang!" Both Blake and I stiffened at the name of the Faunus rights organization. "Now, which of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss, of course had the answer. "The Battle at Fort Castle."

"Precisely!" Doctor Oobleck cried, nearly hitting his coffee with his pointer stick. "And who can tell me the advantage the Faunus' had over General Lagune's forces?"

Jaune, startled out of his nap, seemed to be willing to answer. "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! Now, what is the answer?" The Doctor said, getting really close the Jaune in excitement.

"The answer... the answer... the advantage... the Faunus.. had... over that guy's stuff was... uh binoculars!" Jaune finally said, misinterpreting Pyrrha's silent communications.

I winced. Doctor Oobleck was not amused. "Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject." He said coming back behind his paper covered desk.

_Oh no, not him._

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." I hissed angrily and began to stand.

"You're not the most open minded of individuals are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha's voice cut sharper the Orchids blades. "What you got a problem?" He said glaring at the beautiful red haired girl. "No. I have the answer." She said turning to Oobleck. "It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." Cardin looked furious at being upstaged. In this, he looked exactly like his brother.

_Way to go, Pyrrha._

Blake picked up after Pyrrha. "General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched and the General was captured. Perhaps if he had paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Blake's finishing comment was well place at Cardin who began to stand up, fists ready.

"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat." Jaune chose the wrong time to chuckle. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings. Now! Moving on!" He cried zooming to the other end of the room.

The last bit of discussion was finished without mishap and we all left except for Jaune and Cardin. Pyrrha was worried and chose to stay behind outside the door.

I gave a proud thumbs up to Velvet who smiled back happily before disappearing down another hall.

Elise and I were working on a project together so I hurried to the library to meet her. I had some research of my own to do on the medical properties of Forever Fall leaves, sap and roots. Soon, we'd all be taking a field trip and I was hoping to gather some samples while there.

But outside the library, I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye and felt a tug on my Semblance. Someone wanted my attention. I sent Elise on ahead of me.

She didn't see the worry I felt and vanished down the hallway, leaving me alone with who ever had summoned me. It worried me that someone actually could see the threads of my Semblance enough to pull on one to call me. The implications of something like that worried me greatly.

As I limped to where I felt the summons, I saw one of my classmates leaning casually against a wall, waiting. The one who honestly scared me. Mykel Dionard, leader of team MMCY (Mercy). Martris' team leader.

I approached warily; the only sound was the quiet click as orchid came down on the floor. My senses jumped into hyperawareness as fear coursed inside me. I didn't let it show on my face but I kept my right hand on Orchid and my left hand out of sight, to hide the fact that they were shaking a little bit.

"Hello, Ms. Dahlia." He said cordially. Everything Mykel did was courteous and he was nothing if not a gentleman.

His voice was cultured with little inflection but it had a husky edge that made women go all misty eyed. He was attractive but dangerously so. His features were aristocratic and too finely sculpted to be called handsome with his clear gray eyes and deliberately tousled black hair. His body was lean and muscular but he was a little on the thin side if one was being picky. He wore his uniform like he was a model.

He smiled like he knew a secret that I didn't. He always smiled like that. I haven't yet figured out if he knew anything or if he smiled like that to intimidate people. His eyes saw everything but revealed nothing.

"Mykel." I said nodding slowly at him in greeting. I stood there patiently, waiting for the predator to tell me what he wanted. My heart pounded in my chest and it made me angry. This was my classmate; I shouldn't be scared of him.

But I was. And I couldn't figure out why.

He pushed himself away from the wall and approached me slowly, his grace a little unsettling. "I apologize for asking you here in such a rude manner but I wanted to speak with you privately." I smiled slightly. I wouldn't tell him how much his way of summoning me worried me. _Give him nothing._

When he was an arm's length away from me he stopped.

His Aura pressed on me, too close for comfort, chilling clean of his emotions. He was far away from me but it felt like we were very, very close. "I wished to speak to you about my teammate. Martris Winchester." The smile on my face never moved but I tilted my head.

"From day one, he has disliked you. Because of that, his brother dislikes you. I want to solemnly apologize for his behavior up till now and inform you that he will stop harassing you and those you care for immediately. I cannot do anything about his younger brother but I can do something about Martris."

I dipped my head. "I appreciate your apology on his behalf and your effort to help me. You're a good leader." I replied.

He took another step towards me and I forced myself not to back up. _Give no ground, show him no fear._

"You are a good leader as well, Ms. Dahlia. The entire school looks up to you. There has never been a girl like you to cross my path." His eyes looked like he was searching my soul for something. "There never will be. There is no one in the world like me." I said quietly, without thinking. When I remembered how Oz and I had had a similar conversation I felt sick. His chuckle sent shivers over my skin.

"Too true, too true. That's why I'd like us to be friends." He said, gently putting his thumb and the curve of his forefinger to my chin, holding it delicately. "I think there is a great many things we could learn from each other." He whispered seductively. My insides quivered and I wanted so badly to run and run far.

His hand drifted down my neck, over my left collarbone, down my arm and to my trembling hand. He ever so carefully took it and brought it to his lips. Perhaps he didn't feel how cold it was. "Till we meet again, Ms. Dahlia." He murmured. And then he took a step back and turned to walk slowly down the hallway. I didn't hear his footsteps but I finally felt him disappear.

I let out a pent up breath and looked around. No one.

I leaned my forehead against a cool pillar, trying to ease the heat in my face. All through the rest of the day, I thought about the strange conversation. All I knew was he would make a powerful ally or a very dangerous enemy.

And frighteningly enough, I knew the choice of which, would be all mine.


	7. Chapter 7

There was a new tension in team JNPR. During the week leading up to the trip to the Forest of Forever Fall, Jaune was barely seen nor heard from and when he was around, he was exhausted and despairing.

I tried many times to get him to talk to me but he brushed me aside, saying it was nothing I needed to worry about. The more he said it, the more worried I got.

And Pyrrha... Pyrrha was deeply sad about something. No one could get her to talk. All around, everyone wasn't very happy.

I was distracted and stressed over Med. He had accidentally knocked a big boiling pot of water over on himself and the resulting burns were grievous.

As a favor to Medro, who would spend years working off the debt a trip to a paid Healer's would cause, I took Med on but it was hard. The water had literally boiled the poor boy's skin on most of his body. I spent hours on end with him, getting excused from class to care for the child. He required a long time Systematic Healing.

A day before the field trip, I made a breakthrough and the final Deep Healing took care of the last of it. I gave Medro a salve with instructions for Med to rub it on three times and day, morning, noon and night and to use it whenever his skin felt tight or itchy,

I could always make more salves.

"You are a lifesaver, Dahlia. Truly a god sent." Medro said weeping with gratitude as I gave him the salve. "Anything for a friend." I replied gently before taking leave to my bed where I slept the day away, dreaming of the past that I hadn't escaped. Such long term Deep Healings always left me vulnerable to night terrors.

I woke at dawn and prepared for the field trip. Everyone was excited for the trip.

Over the weeks, Peyton and Elin's grew more and more normal. No one was surprised anymore when they held hands walking to class. No one tried to laugh at them or hurt them anymore. It only took Elise breaking four different people's arms and the times where I pinned multiple people high on the wall of the auditorium with throwing knives for people to get the message. _Do not mess with them._

Each time, both Goodwitch and Ozpin just gritted their teeth and explained while they understood our need to make a point they'd prefer that we not take action on our own. We did anyways. Somehow it gave me perverse satisfaction to force our Headmaster into facing me, even if it was to attempt to discipline me.

Ozpin never met my eyes and though he was polite to me, he was distant. I was just another of his students. If I tried to catch him alone, he would make a quick escape. That always left me feeling ignored and very sad.

But it was not unexpected, which somehow made it worse.

So instead I live vicariously through my teammates. Elise went through boys quickly, none of them able to keep up with her and keep her interested. Sometimes I'd get messages from the old bastard which helped soothe my ruffled feathers over Oz.

Peyton and Elin's relationship was subjected to excited comments from myself and Elise, though mostly from Elise.

And both of us had long discussions on what went on when the red ribbon was tied around the door handle.

* * *

In the Forest of Forever Fall, we listened to Huntress Goodwitch lecture about the beautiful forest. I stayed towards the back and collected samples from the stunning red leaved trees.

Apparently, we were also collecting sap samples for class and I was eager to grab some of my own samples from trees deep within the forest.

Together with my team, we followed our friendly teams, laughing and admiring the falling leaves. Peyton and Elin held hands the whole way, both of the smiling like the lovestruck idiots they were. With the beautiful leaves and petals falling all around us, the walk through the forest was rather romantic.

We all had our large jars and I had my own sample vials to fill and the time was passed in laughter and fun.

Nora had taken a liking to the syrupy sweet sap and consumed several jars that needed refilling.

I admired her stamina. That would have made me horribly ill.

Out of the corner of my eye sometimes, I would see Martris glare at me but when he noticed me looking he would turn away quickly. Once, Mykel saw the interaction and he offered me that gentle smile and a slow, seductive wink.

I pretended not to see and pretended I didn't feel the shiver of excitement and fear creep up my spine.

* * *

There was some horrible feelings running around near us toward the end of the sap collection but I couldn't pinpoint who was the source.

Then of course, someone cried Ursa. Actually, several people cried Ursa. Specifically, Cardin's teammates who had left him to the beast.

Ruby, Pyrrha, Weiss and I took off when Pyrrha realized that Jaune was with Cardin and therefore the Ursa. The rest of our teammates excluding Peyton and Elin who had vanished earlier, went for help. Elise promised to go find them.

Oh Gods, what if they were attacked?

No, I told myself. If they had been attacked, I would have felt it.

We charged off into the woods, kicking up red leaves and petals as we went.

"He'll be alright, Pyrrha. We're going make it." I told her, easing the jagged fear inside of her.

Her face was tight with concern for the blonde boy who had somehow someway stolen the heart of the most capable warrior in the land.

The Ursa, we saw when we arrived, didn't want Jaune. It only wanted Cardin who had Forever Fall sap all over his clothes.

Part of me wanted to give him to the Ursa and the other part was saying that probably wasn't the best way to handle the situation.

Then suddenly, as the Ursa went to disembowel the vulnerable Cardin, Jaune was between the claws, the boy with his sword and shield in hand.

I'll hand it to him. The boy's got guts.

It was a pretty big Ursa.

He fought with the same lack of tact we saw in practice, but he had tenacity. Each blow he got back up and fought hard.

I could see his Aura was getting low, so I did something only true Healers could do and seldom did.

Standing in the tree line with Weiss, Ruby and Pyrrha, I tapped Jaune's Aura into mine and took the next blow from him. The blow that should have killed him only weakened him slightly, for his Aura was blended with mine and now any blows dealt to him would instead be dealt to me.

It was painful, but I am no stranger to pain.

I sagged against a tree onto the leaf covered ground, no longer capable of balancing with Orchid.

Jaune charged and took another blow from the Ursa's claws. This meant I took it. And another, and another.

Jaune really did have a lot of Aura. Now if he could only learn to tap into it.

I prepared to take another blow, for Jaune had not put his shield up again. But then something strange happened. Pyrrha raised her arm and Jaune's shield rose to protect him and gave him to boost he needed to decapitate the large bear Grimm. Pyrrha looked embarrassed.

Ah, her Semblance. I had forgotten. Polarity. She had raised Jaune's shield for which if I could have spoken, I would have thanked her.

I saw them walk off and Jaune who gave Cardin his last warning, left as well. I was too weak to call for help and soon my vision went black from pain and I saw no more.


	8. Chapter 8

**No one noticed that Dahlia had not come back to Beacon until night fell and team DEEP realized that their leader had not been seen since the Ursa attack, where she had disappeared into the woods with Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha. She had been just a blur of black and silver, she moved so fast.**

**"We've looked everywhere. It's time to tell an adult." Elise said; her voice cracked up an octave with worry. They all felt awful for forgetting her.**

**"First, grab the other two friendly teams and anyone else willing to help. If they tell us to wait till morning, we'll go on our own tonight. Dahlia might be dead by morning. Set Velvet and her team to continue looking here. She might come back before us." Elin said fiercely, putting on his armor and coiling his whips at his hips. Elise was already battle ready, Serenity on her back and so she went to the first person she could think of to help, while Elin and Peyton went for team RWBY and team JNPR.**

* * *

**Professor Ozpin was surprised when a little girl half his height, ripped open the sliding metal doors to his office with her bare hands.**

**I'm glad I'm decent, he thought. He was carefully watering his blooming orchid plant when she stormed in.**

**"Professor Ozpin." She said in a harried, worry filled tone. She looked at the damaged doors and muttered a quick sorry. "Our team leader is missing." She said.**

**"Excuse me?" He said, stopping what he was doing.**

**An icy fist gripped his heart. "Ms. Thayet, is it?"**

**"Yes, sir. Elise Thayet of team DEEP."**

**Oh Gods no, he thought, his mind beginning to panic. His face only showed mild interest.**

**"Your team leader is Ms. Derivalle, is it not?" He asked calmly. Worry pinched the young girl's face. "Yes sir. No one has seen her since the Forever Fall trip earlier today."**

**True panic settled in. He looked out the window wall of his office an saw the sun falling below the horizon. "Oh dear and it's getting dark." He said quietly as he picked up his Scroll with trembling hands.**

**"Glynda. We have an emergency. Wake a team-"**

**"Sir we already have two awake and ready to go as well as an extra volunteer." Elise said, shifting from foot to foot, eager to go to the aid of her friend.**

**Ozpin blessed the young for thinking.**

**"Ready a small ship."**

**And they were off. Team RWBY, JNPR and DEEP all piled into the transporter to the Forest of Forever Fall, praying to find the strange, quiet, crippled healer alive. Mykel Dionard joined them and was staring into a corner with a pensive look on his handsome face.**

**None prayed harder than Ozpin. Even Blake but Blake's worry was eased by the thought of Dahlia's uncanny ability to survive.**

**Every member of the teams was riddled with guilt. Every single one of them had forgotten Dahlia and hadn't thought of her the rest of the day. What kind of friends were they?**

**But Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha were feeling especially guilty. They hadn't turned back to see where the fourth girl was. Didn't even think about her till the two alarmed boys had sounded the call for help. **

**Only after the boys explained had the horror of their actions settled in. If she was dead when they found her, it was on their heads.**

**They just had to find her.**

**The moon rose, shining its light upon the land to help the searchers find their forgotten comrade among the shadows of the trees and the monsters that haunted the night.**

* * *

**Fourteen hunters sped through the Forever Fall on silent feet, to the deeper section of the woods.**

**Even Ozpin put on amazing speed to find the girl with hair like starlight. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss led the pack of Huntsmen and Huntresses, everyone on alert for Grimm.**

**"This way." Hissed Ruby. Ozpin was hard put to match the young ones for speed, but his urgency outpaced their younger legs.**

**"Careful, I sense Beowolves." Mykel whispered and everyone quieted their already silent movements. **

**The terror of being in a Grimm filled forest at night took a toll on each trainee. They started at every noise and searched every shadow.**

**Glynda and Ozpin felt only fear for the student. Glynda felt guilty as well. She had been sure she counted them all right.**

**But she had missed one, and left a wonderful girl to die alone.**

**Ozpin had flashes of the night, months ago of the beautiful young lady who had stumbled upon his private musings and had laughed with him. She had said she was one of a kind. And truly she was.**

**In her presence, the weight of years and pain seemed to lift from his shoulders. Her beauty and her kindness tempted him in ways he had only heard about from friends.**

**He had resisted seeing her again in a personal space again, using student-Headmaster protocol to hide from the fear he felt of being rejected. He couldn't imagine how such an incredible woman would ever have an interest in him. He convinced himself that trying wasn't worth the pain.**

**And what kind of man was he to **_**deserve**_ **such beauty and caring in his life?**

**He had watched her grow and immerse herself into the life at Beacon. There were very few who did not have a very special relationship with the lovely Healer.**

**And yet, they had all left her here. A beautiful place by day but as night grew deeper the Forever Fall became a place of nightmares.**

**For the Grimm ruled the night.**

**"Almost there." Jaune whispered. With the break in his concentration, he tripped over a root and plowed face first into the ground.**

**He didn't cried out, but the noise set off the forest. All around them, the woods began to howl.**

**"Run!" Someone said, sending everyone on a frenzied dash.**

**"Ozpin, grab the girl. We'll all cover you." Glynda said pulling her riding crop from her boot. He nodded and focused on following the four who knew generally where she was.**

**"This is the area." Ruby said. "This is where Pyrrha, Weiss and I stood. Dahlia stood over... there..." Ruby pointed.**

**All the eyes followed to where the leader of a Beowolf pack sat chewing on the foot of a silver haired girl.**

**It was an instantaneous reaction. Elise went straight for the leader, while everyone else engaged the rest of the pack.**

**Elise was tiny but ferocious. With the full power of her Semblance behind her, she tackled the leader hard enough to get him to drop Dahlia, dropping her to where Ozpin wait below to catch her.**

**Elise didn't bother using Serenity. She had enough solid rage to kill the beast with her bare hands.**

**Elise's Semblance was physical Strength. She needed no weapon.**

**"I've got her. Break off attack, cover me back to the ship!" He cried, launching himself away from the fight. "Pyrrha, her staff!" Ruby yelled. Suddenly Dahlia's Orchid was in Mykel's hand. "I got it!" He yelled, running alongside Ozpin who carried Dahlia's like a life sized doll in his arms.**

**Elise was the last to leave, unable to control her fury. She didn't leave till the beast that had hurt her friend was nothing but pieces of mashed pulp.**

**The flight back to the ship was much faster that the getting to Dahlia part.**

**She felt so light and dead in his arms.**

**All the Beowolves were dead, at least from that pack. The Grimm began to gather as the smell of carnage permeated the air.**

**But when they arrived at the battlefield, the huntsmen and huntresses were gone, on their way back to Beacon.**

**The mood on the ship was somber. Dahlia was alive, barely, but alive. And her left leg had been eaten from the knee down. She showed signs of other traumas but those somehow quickly faded. No one knew how they were going to explain to Dahlia how she would never fight again like she used to. She'd be in a wheelchair. She'd never walk again.**

**Ozpin had locked himself and Dahlia in the back medic room. He gently wiped the blood from her body and carefully cleaned her wounds.**

**Her left leg was a mangled mess from the knee down. She'd need all her formidable courage to face her life from then on. Their mutual friend was going to be so angry when he found out. He had expressed such hopes for Dahlia.**

**"Dahlia. I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear. He wished he could fix it. Fix the entire situation.**

**He stared at her serene face, glad only that she did not feel pain wherever she was.**

**When she was awake she always seemed so guarded. Like at any moment, she expected to be attacked. There were times that he had longed to reach out and wipe away the fear and worry lines that would mark her face.**

**She had long blackened silver eyelashes that rested like petals against her cheeks.**

**He was so engrossed with her face, he didn't look at the wreck her leg had been.**

**The bone grew, muscle healed, veins and arteries reformed and in the half an hour back to Beacon, Dahlia's left calf, ankle and foot had regrown, down to the last toe.**

**"Sir, we'll be landing soon-" Glynda's words trailed off.**

**The girl was whole. But her left lower leg had been chewed off. But there it was.**

**As if the only thing that was out of place was the missing shoe and fabric below her knee.**

**"My God, Professor." She said coming around to touch the leg that shouldn't have been there.**

**"I know it's horrible. I did the best I could with the-" He turned to look at Glynda and saw why she had gone silent.**

**Dahlia had a whole left leg.**

**The girl began to stir. **

**"I'll go tell the kids. They'll see soon enough." She said before closing the door.**

**Dahlia's eyelashes fluttered and Ozpin got a glimpse of the beautiful dark blue irises beneath.**

**"Oz..." She said quietly. She smiled. "You finally came." She said with her breath.**

**He reached for her and brushed her silver bangs away. "Hello, Dahlia. How do you feel?"**

**"Tired. Very tired but that what happens when you do stupid things. I am just glad you came. I missed you... I went to the garden every night since I met you. Just in case you ever came. And now you've come. I'm so happy." She said sighing.**

**His heart contracted. He hadn't known that she had gone very night. He knew about the first time.**

**No one knew about the long silver ribbon he wore wrapped around his left forearm.**

**"Dahlia, you got hurt very badly but your body fixed it." He said cradling her head.**

**"Of course it did. That's what Omar taught it to do. I can never die unless my head is cut off. That why I wear the steel necklace. I can never die, even if I want to." She murmured, rolling her cheek into his hand.**

**"Dahlia, do you want to die?" He asked carefully, terrified of the answer.**

**She breathed evenly for a little and he thought she had fallen asleep. **

**Till she answered with a single sweet sigh, "Yes. I deserve to die."**

**She fell asleep and he gently rested her head down.**

**She needed rest to recuperate.**

**He picked up her silver walking staff, feeling the warm, rough matte metal on his fingertips as he placed it beside her. He stared at the beautiful etching of blooming orchids that wrapped around the length of the staff, giving the weapon it's name.**

**She would want it when she woke up.**

**Then in a fit of impulsiveness, he unbuckled her black cloak and gathered it to him.**

**He walked off the ship, exhausted with the strains of the night. He sought his bed wearily, not saying a word to anyone. **

**He only took his spectacles and boots off before curling up on the big, soft, lonely bed cuddling Dahlia's cloak tightly.**

**He fell dead asleep with the floral smell of her filling his nose, bringing peace to a troubled heart.**

**Everything was alright.**

**Dahlia Derivalle was alive.**


	9. Chapter 9

I hadn't remembered anything before waking up in my bed with my room crowded with bodies. Teams DEEP, JNPR, RWBY, CFVY and a few others had fallen asleep scattered around the room.

Elise and Blake were cuddled up next in front of me with Velvet, Pyrrha and Weiss sleeping behind me. Ruby slept on the pillow above my head and Yang slept in a ball at my feet. I spotted Nora on top of my bookcase, and Jaune, Ren, Peyton and Elin slept in a puppy pile on two beds pushed together.

Yatsuhashi was half under the two beds, Coco slept on Elise's bed with Fox lying sideways across her.

A few others were sprawled on the floor and on top of our storage chests.

I didn't think the room was made for so many people.

Careful not to wake anyone, I got up to use the bathroom and prepare for the day. I was startled to find Mykel sitting cross legged in my chair, as easy as you please. He smiled when he saw me awake. "Good morning, Ms. Dahlia. How are you feeling?" He asked mildly but underneath it, I could sense a strange mix of emotions. Concern, wonder, and curiosity.

"Fine, thank you." He stood up fluidly and came to her side. I laid back down, unsure of what he was doing. "Why are you in my room?" I whispered, his strange eyes searching my face. He reached down and brushed his fingertips over my cheek. As if seeking… reassurement?

"Just making sure you were alright." He murmured back before he retracted his hand and then he stepped back, nodded and exited the room.

How utterly strange, I thought, sitting up to use the bathroom.

My pants were ruined and I tried to remember how that had happened but I threw the ruined clothing away and retrieved another pair of leather pants and a new set of boots because one of my old pair seemed to be missing.

And my cloak was nowhere to be found.

After a shower and dressing, I went and found an ecstatic Medro and told him of my extra guests.

He hugged me, praising the Gods that I was alive. Of course I was alive. I couldn't die.

He prepared a veritable feast and ordered an army of kitchen boys to carry. It was interesting to me that his Semblance was knowing how much food and what kind everyone would want. Useful for a Head Chef.

The others were just starting to wake when I got back with our breakfast.

"Morning dears." I said to the sleepy room.

Elise was awake instantly. "Dahlia! What are you doing out of bed?!"

I raised my eyebrow. "Bringing breakfast a group of sleepy huntsmen and huntresses."

Nora snored. "Pancakes..."

"Yes, Nora we have pancakes." I said to wake her.

"Dahlia, you need to lie down. God woman, you are insane." Jaune said.

"Why?" I said incredulously. "Do you remember nothing from yesterday?"

I thought about it.

"I remember the Forever Fall trip and Jaune's incredible fight with that big Ursa and I... oh... I must have passed out after I... oh."

I sat down in my chair, fingering the etchings along Orchid.

Pyrrha looked at me. "After what?"

I blushed.

"As you all know, my Semblance is Healing." Everyone knew. My abilities weren't a secret and many utilized my skills.

"Well, when I saw Jaune fighting the Ursa, I could feel how low his Aura was after taking so many hits from Cardin and his team. So, I did something that only true Healers can technically do and don't do it often because of the possible effects."

I turned shy. Jaune looked at me seriously. "Dahlia, what did you do?"

I smiled painfully at him. "I couldn't let you die, Jaune. You just needed a little extra armor."

Blake looked stunned. "You didn't..." She began but I gave her a look.

Then I sighed.

"I tapped into Jaune's Aura and blended mine own into his. So when he took blows from the Ursa, it was my Aura that took the brunt of the hit. Those were hard blows as well. The first or second hit would have killed you Jaune." I said pleadingly.

"Your Aura is incredibly strong, but it had done too much with Cardin and his cronies to have lasted through the attacks."

Everyone stared in shock. Healers could do that?

"But the pain was too much and I guess I fainted." I said sheepishly.

"Dahlia... you saved my life." Jaune said. Pyrrha sent a rush of gratitude towards me. "You're my friend. I didn't do much. I couldn't have beaten that Ursa in the state I was in after Healing Med the day before. I only did what anyone here would have done in my place." I smiled.

"I'm just glad you guys got me back here."

Ouch. The rush of emotions slammed into me.

"Well, Dally. There is something we haven't told you." Elise looked at the people who weren't a part of the three teams who got the message, grabbed breakfast to go and left quietly.

"What's wrong, dears?"

No one would meet my eyes.

Pyrrha was the brave one. "We didn't actually bring you back, Dahlia." She whispered.

Ah, so that was the source of the guilt.

"How long was I there?" I asked conversationally.

"Till a little past dusk." Peyton said, with great big tears in his eyes.

Oh. That's why everyone felt guilty.

They had forgotten me.

"Anything else?" I said mildly.

Ren surprisingly answered. "Your leg was chewed off below the knee by a big Beowolf."

That explained the missing boot and the torn pants.

"But it grew back on the way home. Ozpin and you were in the medic room and Glynda went in and then came out and told us that you were fine and had your leg again. You're like a starfish." Nora said between bites. She ate halfheartedly.

My face didn't change. "I see." Was all I said before I stood up.

"We didn't mean to, Dahlia. Please don't be mad-" Elise began. I cut her off with a smile.

"I'm not mad. Relax, I'm just going to visit Professor Ozpin. I'll be back in a little while. Stay. Eat. I'll only be a little, sweetlings." I murmured, before I turned with Orchid in hand and limped out the door, closing it quietly behind me. The soft click and the silence that followed were louder than a thunderclap.

* * *

There was a burning behind my eyes and a tightness in my chest and throat. I began to walk quickly, coming down hard on my right leg to cause more pain. Somehow the pain kept the tears at bay.

He was in his office.

The doors slid open when I gave my name. Inside was a steampunk theme. Clocks and clockwork was the main idea. It was beautiful.

I stepped inside slowly.

"Professor Ozpin." I said neutrally. I could feel the hurt in him brought to the surface.

"Ms. Derivalle. It's good to see you up and about but shouldn't you be resting?" He replied with the same neutrality.

"Believe me, Professor. I'm perfectly fine." I said through my teeth.

His gentle smile cut me to my core. He clicked his cameras off.

"No, my dear Dahlia. You are not fine." He said, standing up.

I tried to take a breath but it got stuck in my throat. "I'm fine." I said but my voice cracked and wobbled on the final note.

That was the last straw.

No amount of pain would prevent these tears. The emotions were too strong.

"How could they just leave me?" I asked despairingly.

He crossed the room as I began to sink beneath the weight of my depression.

I dropped Orchid and covered my face with my hands.

Everyone had forgotten me.

My friends. My teammates. My own sister.

They had all forgotten me.

His surprisingly strong arms wrapped around me and together we sank to the floor.

Oz's care was a balm to the heart-pain that wracked my body. He held me tight against the sadness that wanted to bring me into the darkest depths of my soul where even I feared to venture, petting my long partially wet hair soothingly.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my face into the crook of his neck and gripped the fabric of his jacket tightly in my fists, afraid that if I let go, I would fall.

"They left me." I cried with forceful sobs. The feeling of abandonment was crushing.

"That's the worst part about being the strong one, dearest. No one ever wonders if you're okay." I sniffed and pulled back a little.

His face was very close and I could smell the intoxicating aroma of his closeness. He smelled like coffee and clean man. His voice was low and soft near my ear.

"Your friends didn't leave you, Dahlia. They assumed that you were fine and well. In their minds, perhaps you were just absent after the attack and were back here doing whatever the mysterious Dahlia does whenever no one can find her." He smiled and I pulled my head back to look at him. I gave him a watery giggle and wiped my eyes with the heel of my hand.

"You have no idea the fear that ate at me when Ms. Thayet told me you were missing. They had turned Beacon upside down looking for you and I terrified Glynda half out of her mind with my need to get to the Forever Fall." He tucked my head under his chin and closed his eyes.

"I don't know what I would have done if we hadn't gotten there in time."

I listened to his heartbeat, for once glad that I had survived.

"They told me about my leg."

He winced. "Yes. A remarkable ability you have. Whoever Omar is, he has grand ideas."

I gasped and stared at Ozpin.

How did he know who Omar was? How did he know that Omar was the one who turned my body into a partially immortal being?

"You woke up a little on the ship after your leg regrew." He said. "You said you were tired after doing silly things." He began. I tried to smile.

"I told the teams this morning of a true Healers ability to blend Aura's to protect a person. I did this for Jaune and that's why I passed out. I shouldn't have done it. I wasn't strong enough after I Healed Med but Jaune would have died without a little help and I gave what little energy I had to protect him. Silly things like that." I murmured. Ozpin gulped and chuckled.

"You are truly remarkable." He said. "You told me about your late night visits to the garden. You thought that we were in the garden when you woke up."

I blushed. Why was I so weird half asleep?

"When you said soon, I thought you meant sooner rather than later." He blushed deeply. "Yes...well... complications and such... well..." He stuttered.

I laughed and nuzzled his chest.

"And when I spoke of your leg, you told me 'of course it grew back. That's what Omar trained it to do.' Then you spoke of how you couldn't die unless you were beheaded." He touched the gorget on my neck. "And that's why you wear this." I nodded.

The fear that he was associated with Omar eased.

His heart grew sad. "And then I asked you if you wanted to die? Do you know how you answered?" I said. I knew the answer. "I said, yes."

"You said yes, worse you said you deserved it! How could someone so unique and wonderful as you, who was obviously put on this planet for a grand reason, want to go back to the void?" He said, wishing to disbelieve it. I didn't answer him. I was still too protective of my secrets. Instead I countered. "I could say the same for you." He was stunned by my response. _Oh yes, Oz, I can read that deeply into a person's soul, especially when something resonates in my own. I'm not the only one who wishes for death._

"I have nightmares now of you." He whispered.

"I always find you laying as if asleep, in a bed of roses. You look so peaceful, so utterly beautiful laying there. All black and silver, with your tattoos and this lovely hair, like spun moonbeams. But you're never sleeping. I try to wake you but you just lay there and that's when I see that the rest of the roses are white. Yet all the rose petals around you are stained red. And somewhere, I can hear the howling of Beowolves."

I pulled my head back. "Isn't there a song, where one of the lyrics is 'Every nightmare just discloses, it's your blood that's red like roses'?" He looked at me confused.

"Music and drawing are my escapes. Especially from my own nightmares." And I sang the lyrics I just told him. Then I sighed.

"Maybe if you come to the garden tonight, we can talk more." I whispered.

His arms tightened for a moment then reluctantly let me go.

We helped each other stand slowly and he handed me Orchid. I still hurt, but it wasn't raw pain. I could forgive my friends.

I was the strong one. And they were my pack. I wasn't a lone wolf anymore.

"Good day. Ms. Derivalle." He said turning away.

"Oz." I said reaching for him.

He turned and I put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you." I said gratefully. "I'll see you tonight."

And with that, I turned and began to leave when I spotted my cloak on his chair. I opened my mouth then thought better. With a secret smile, I continued out of his office and towards my friends.

* * *

"That was much longer than you said!" Weiss cried when I came back inside.

I felt calmer. "Sorry. The Professor and I had much to discuss." I said coming to sit back down in my chair.

I took a deep breath.

"I lied earlier. I wasn't mad. But it hurt really bad that my friends forgot me. After talking to Professor Ozpin, I think I understand. But I'd like to hear it from you." I met their eyes. "How could you leave me in the Forever Fall? I thought I was your friend." I said sadly. I fixed Blake with a sad stare.

Her guilt was of two pains.

This was not the first time she had left me to die.

"Sometimes, it's like you don't need us." Elise whispered.

I looked at her.

"There is something about you, something no one can reach. You take care of everyone around you and I guess I never really thought that maybe you needed to be taken care of a little. You just seem so powerful, even with the things that make you insecure." She said.

Everyone nodded.

I sighed, with a little laugh.

"You guys honestly don't think I need you more than you need me? Does anyone here realize how terrified I am of being alone? I need you guys like I need air. Maybe more. Now that I have friends, one of my greatest fears is losing them." I said amazed at how oblivious my darlings were.

"I was told this. The worst part about being strong, is no one asks if you are alright. Yes, I may seem strong but I need you. All of you. No one can be strong all the time and when I falter, even I need a helping hand."

Nora belched loudly, the trays cleaned off. I laughed and everyone seemed to relax.

But not enough.

"I need you all to close your eyes."

Each one immediately did so. It confounded me that they so blindly followed my orders. No one even asked the normal question of why.

"Take a few deep, calm breaths. Focus on the sound of my voice. I'm going sing you a little song."

I sensed all eleven of them trying to do as I asked.

Taking a deep breath, I tapped my foot slowly. Wings was a slow sweet song.

_One life... is not a long time..._

_when you're waiting... for a small sign..._

I reached into that deep, dark blue of my Aura and activated the strands of my Semblance. I plucked eleven strands from myself and pressed them into my friends.

_Patience... is hard to find..._

_Shadows... seem to fill your life..._

I tied the Healing to their heartbeat. I eased guilt, healed the rifts in their souls and took away their pain, replacing it with hope and happiness.

_Don't be disappointed, don't let your heart break_

_Don't spend another in... this... way..._

I saw smiles on some faces, calmness on others.

_It's... oh.. kay..._

Once I could heal no more, I pulled the strands back into my body and let my song trail off still tapping my foot till everything was back to normal.

With the last tap of my foot, eyes opened.

"That was incredible." Ren murmured.

"I feel all warm and fuzzy." Nora said smiling in that bubbly way with a warm look in her turquoise eyes.

I petted her orange hair. "My Semblance isn't just physical Healing but mental and emotional Healing as well."

Pyrrha nodded. "That makes sense actually." There was a chorus of agreements.

"And, my healing Semblance is powerful strands of Healing energy that are tied into my body. That's how my leg grew back. My body activated the strands and it Healed me in the only way it could which was regrowing the limb. I can't do that for other people but my body was trained from a young age to do what we call Quick Heal. It's my secret advantage in battle. No matter what the blow, my body will recover. Even death wounds, won't kill me. There is only one way to kill me." I said touching my gorget.

Eyes were wide as saucers. "How did you train your body to-"

"I don't want to talk about it." I snapped as Weiss tried to question me. Blake touched the pale girl's arm and an understanding passed between them.

Memories of the past once again came. Inside I crumbled. My leg pulsed with pain, feeling angry with my treatment of it before.

I closed my eyes and rested my hands against my right thigh just above the source of my constant pain.

Then a strong arm wrapped around my shoulders. And another. And a hand grabbed mine.

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by my friends. Blake held my hand and squeezed it.

I pulled my friends in tight.

"I love you guys." I whispered.

They needed no words. I could feel their answer and it healed the last of my pain.

* * *

Night began to fall. Medro sent another army with food for us and it was incredible to feel the bonds developed in the room.

Tighter than friends, stronger than family. A true pack. And somehow, I felt accepted.

As if their rescue had formed another bond with me. They were more like family than anything I'd ever been in before.

I finally had a real family.

Though, when I had revealed another secret, it made me much more willing to move on Yang.

As everyone separated for the night, I caught her on the way out.

"Tomorrow night, I'm headed out for a drink in town. Want to come along?" She agreed happily.

Score one for Dahlia.

But that night I had already made plans. If Oz didn't show I would take it as a final rejection.

He hadn't come to the garden since we first met there and it had been months. If he even felt the slightest thing for me, he would come.

If not... well, I'd think about that later.

With a mixture of excitement and resignation, I dressed in my long black silk nightgown and an open front charcoal gray satin sleep robe. I spent time watching my team fall deep asleep brushing out the curtain of my hair till it felt as silky as my clothes. The moon was a thin broken crescent in the sky.

I collected my sketch pad, charcoals and charcoal cloth, hairspray, a blanket and Orchid before I slipped out the room.

I closed my eyes and refused the fragile hope in my heart that he would come. _Please, let him come._

I parted the ivy and stepped inside my garden. Even with the lack of light, I could see fine and the shadows were deep and beautiful. The light gave a silvery sheen to the secret garden.

I padded to my favorite tree and sat down with the blanket on the ground and around my shoulders. Orchid was propped up against the tree to my right. The grass was soft beneath my feet. I propped my sketch pad up in my thighs and thumbed through some of my sketches slowly. I preferred charcoal to any other drawing material. It was hard to work with but the finished product was something special.

I began on a fresh page, singing the lyrics the Red Like Roses to myself, remembering Oz's nightmares about me.

There was little hesitation in my hands. The bold black lines and the soft gray lines blended into the image I could see of Oz's fear.

A bed of roses, my hair splaying around me wildly. My eyelashes were hard but I couldn't deny my stark beauty when rendered. And as my final touch, I drew Orchid, lying near my outstretched hand. Her sleek lines and beautiful swirling orchid designs.

Hours past as I sang and drew. I focused on every tiny detail till it looked beyond real. More like a picture than a drawing.

I wiped my fingers on my cloth and set my drastically shortened charcoal stick down. I brushed my hand across my forehead to move my bangs, leaving behind a dark line of charcoal across my skin.

I spray the drawing with hairspray to set it and prevent the hateful unintentional smudging.

I sighed and looked at the moon that had risen to its peak.

He hadn't come.

He didn't want me enough to come to me.

I stared at my drawing.

Perhaps I had misinterpreted his feeling's back in his office. Perhaps I had been wrong about everything.

Hurt flared and I seized the paper, thinking for a moment to rip it apart.

"I do hope you don't tear it up." A soft voice said near me.

I jumped a little, surprised that he had snuck up on me.

The hurt was gone in an instant. Hope lit up inside me.

"Oz... you came." I said happily. I stood up slowly with the aid of the tree. "It took me a while to get the courage to come but I couldn't stand the thought of you sitting down here all night waiting for me. I couldn't stand the thought of disappointing you." He admitted bashfully.

I was surprised to see him in a tight long sleeve gray shirt and long loose green pajama pants.

"It's strange seeing you so informal looking." I said smiling. I limped over to him without the aid of Orchid and slid my arms around his ribs in a gentle embrace. He was so warm.

"It's strange seeing you look so... vulnerable." I looked up at him, resting my chin on his chest.

"How do I look vulnerable?"

He smiled and I felt something akin to melting. Emotions are so odd when you are reacting to an attractive person.

"You look so soft in your night clothes. Much less like the warrior I see every day… you really have no idea the effect you have on people?" He murmured, helping me to the tree.

He sat next to me and tucked the blanket up over my shoulders.

"Normally, in your black attire you look like a fierce, powerful warrior who is untouchable in every way. Delicate fragility offset with brutal strength." He said, looking at me, running his eyes over me. I observe the deep bags under his eyes, a match to my own.

"Now, you seemed much more accessible and soft. So very lovely." He said, taking a closer look at my image of his nightmare.

"Perfect." He said quietly.

He stared a long time at the picture and I could feel the nightmare nibble at the edges of his sleep deprived mind.

With a gentle wave of my Semblance I brushed it away, like sweeping cobwebs away.

He sighed in relief. "Thank you." He said taking my hand in his.

"I am a True Healer, like none I've ever heard. For years, I've studied and researched for someone with my same set of gifts but my searches all turned up fruitless." I said turning my head to look more fully at him.

Beneath the shelter of the pale beech tree, I suddenly felt very open to the handsome man who caused such strange feelings inside me. Or were those his feelings? I couldn't tell.

"I've come to the conclusion that I was created this way."

"By the man, Omar, who you mentioned before."

I nodded slowly and took a deep breath. It was hard to let go of such painful secrets. I had guarded them for so long and I still felt reservation about telling anyone.

What if it affected the way they treated me?

"I was an experiment for most of my life. It was a cruel existence, living under the thumb of Omar Derivalle. So much of me is a show of his hand. I've never actually known whether this was the way I was supposed to look or be like or whether this is that way Omar wanted me to be. He is my Puppetmaster." Oz stayed quiet. He just listened with his sober brown eyes looking into my face, completely open.

"But he messed up. He didn't mean to cripple me but he did. And by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late to fix. He couldn't start over. He had spent too much time creating me already. So he taught the cripple to be his weapon." I said rubbing my thigh.

"What did he do to cripple you?"

My smile was gentle but it dripped with sadness.

"He trained my body to heal itself. He taught it to Heal nearly instantaneously." I whispered.

His horror grew as he realized what I meant.

"In order to teach my body, he chose a spot on me to create the reaction. And he chose right here." I said pointing to the middle of my right thigh.

"Omar would break this bone in various way to test and train the Quick Heal in my body. Shattering, clean break, etc. Hour after hour, day after day, I was manacled to a stone wall in the dark little room that I spent my life in, having my femur broken, Healed then rebroken an hour later. Then half an hour later. Then fifteen minutes. Training my body's response to injuries. Oh now, of course, he didn't just break my leg. He cut me, beat me, tortured me to make sure my body knew how to handle anything."

I spoke without inflection, pretending that I was telling about what happened to someone else. But every time I said Omar's name, my leg was shot through with pain.

"But one day, he tried to do a Heal too fast. He broke my leg and then five minutes later, shattered the healing bone, then five minutes later he broke it again. By then it healed wrong, having been broken wrong and it healed badly. That's where the pain stems from. There are nerves that are constantly under the grinding on the bones, causing immense pain and my limp. I would have moved the nerve long ago if it was only one. But when Omar broke the same place so many times so quickly, he scrambled several nerves out of place into the bone structure."

Now Oz's horror was compounded by his fury.

"Now I heal almost instantaneously. A useful trick in battle but he was always disappointed about his one failure. My leg is the one place on my body that I cannot fully heal ever again." I said sadly. I purposefully mentioned that it was the one place on my body that couldn't be healed. On my heart, mind and soul were other wounds that would never fully heal. It wasn't just my body that was crippled.

He reached over and put a hand on my thigh, right above the break. His hand was warm through the silk of my night gown.

"Who is this monster who would do such vile things to such a remarkable child?" The Huntsman Ozpin said fueled by an out-of-character rage.

It was sweet how he raged over the pain I had been forced through.

I placed my hand over his where it rested on my leg. "Omar is my father and was my first lover." I said, feeling my stomach roll as the words fell from my mouth.

He was suddenly on his feet pacing angrily. I missed his warmth keenly.

Hate was not a feeling unfamiliar to Oz. He kept it tightly locked down though. But it filled him then as he paced.

For one heart stopping moment, I thought it was directed at me.

Then he began to mutter. "If I get my hands on that creature, I'll make him pay."

I shivered at the thought of Oz meeting Omar.

He noticed. He came to sit back down and he lifted me up and sat down, then placed me down between his legs with my back resting against his strong chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist and linked his fingers in my lap.

"You are truly remarkable, Dahlia. Anyone else would have broken under that-"

I cut him off. I tilted my head back till I could look into his adoring eyes.

"Oz, I did break... I'm still broken." He went silent and stared at me.

"I'm the one thing in the world that I cannot truly Heal. I've done some truly horrible things and I can never fix that. That's why I came here to learn. I wanted to learn how the real world worked and perhaps begin trying to balance out the bad I've done with the good I could do as a Huntress." I whispered, looking at my sketch. He rested his cheek on my head and cuddled me closer.

I had never sat so close to a man in such an intimate way.

It was really nice.

I could have stayed that way happily, with a strength stronger than my mine own cradling me.

But too soon, Oz woke me up, helped me stand and gather my things. I hummed happily as he handed me Orchid and the rest of my things.

"You should draw something for me." He said.

I sleepily agreed. But at that point, I would have agreed if he told me that the sun would rise in the west and I would have to walk on my hands whenever it rained.

Before he left, he promised to come see me again. And he, like Elise, didn't break promises. I swore him to secrecy but I needn't worry. Oz wanted our special relationship to remain just ours and my secrets were safe with him.

He left me with a gentle kiss on my cheek. It warmed the coldest corners of my heart. I returned the kiss on his cheek and felt the same phenomena inside him.

I walked back to my room, wondering at the strange, sweet feelings that made me feel as if I was floating, even when I was far from him. Truly, human emotions were strange.


	10. Chapter 10

The next night, I was filled with trepidation.

Yes, I cared deeply about Oz. But I couldn't ignore my attraction to the beautiful Yang.

I came to the conclusion that, I was learning how to live and therefore I needed to explore everything I could. It alleviated the guilt I felt when I thought of it that way.

Thankfully, Yang had her motorcycle so we didn't have to walk to town. I blushed when I sat on it behind her and put my hands on her hips. The proximity to her was in direct correlation with the color of my face.

Her hair and mine fluttered like banners behind our heads as we sped into Vale.

We decided not to go to The Club. Apparently, Yang had made quite an impression on Junior Xiong the last time she had been there, as proved by the sniper rifles aimed at us as we sped by.

Instead, I directed her to a dance club that served good liquor.

I had been there several times when I had first come to Vale, drinking up the courage to climb on the airship to Beacon.

"This place is banging!" Yang said, when she saw Raindance. It was blasting good dance music.

Yang and I were both dressed up for a night out.

She looked stunning in a red crop top and black shorts that accentuated all of her assets. Her hair was as wild as usual and her makeup gave her a saucy look.

Red was definitely her color.

I wore a black cropped tank top with the Beacon logo across my bust and tight gray cut offs.

I had had Elin put makeup on me. It itched and I didn't like it but it did make me look sexy. And because he wanted to, I let him curl my silver locks. They bounced and shined attractively and it made Elin very happy.

When we entered Raindance, all eyes turned towards us.

The biggest reason I liked this club besides the music and the drinks, was that it was a pro-Faunus place.

Faunus and Humans alike mingled, flirted and got down together without any tensions at all. Any show of hate towards anyone got you thrown out. And the bartender, Sam, was an empath Semblance much like myself, without my Healing abilities so the atmosphere of the club in general was pretty great.

I leaned on Orchid a little and smiled, drinking in the feelings of the crowd.

"Strawberry sunrise, no ice." Yang yelled to the smiling bartender. He was a huge man, gruff but sympathetic, especially to beautiful girls. He was a Bear but he usually kept his claws to himself when he worked.

He winked at me when I sat down. "Dahlia." He said, filling a shot for me.

I threw it back, feeling the burning of the alcohol slide down my throat.

It took a lot to get me drunk but thankfully I never got hangovers.

He looked at Yang, raising an eyebrow at the bottle in his hand. It was the strong stuff and Yang unflinchingly downed a shot.

I smiled. Silly, silly Yang.

Another shot for me. I smiled at her, igniting her competitive side.

She should have known better.

We chatted as we downed shot after shot and sipped on deliciously mixed fruity drinks.

Yang had a pretty high tolerance. Soon, she heard a song she liked and stood up to dance without listing or bumbling. She asked if I wanted to but I just looked at her.

I could barely stand without Orchid, so how was I supposed to dance?

She made her way onto the dance floor and showed her familiarity with the type of dancing one did at this kind of club.

She had a partiality to the Cat-Faunus which made me grin even as I was filled with chagrin. I just leaned against the bar and sipped my drink, enjoying watching Yang dance, ignoring the pain in my leg.

"Don't you want to dance?" A guy said, sitting next to me on my right, with a strange smile on his face.

I just looked at him and looked at Orchid. " I can't."

"Could you dance before that happened? Like do you have rhythm and stuff like that?" I rolled my eyes. Who was this guy?

"I was pretty good at it. But that obviously doesn't matter now does it." I snapped. I didn't like being reminded of everything I had lost.

Sam poured me another glass and I drained it angrily.

"Do you want to dance with that girl?" The man said, looking at Yang.

Perhaps it was the alcohol but I answered honestly. "More than anything right now." He smiled triumphantly.

"Well, Quicksilver, Daren Glass here, to make your wish come true." He said reaching for my leg. "Touch me and I'll break your hand." I growled at him.

He rolled his pale blue eyes at me and pressed his hand onto my leg just above the pain.

"I said-"

My leg didn't hurt.

It was the oddest sensation. "What the..." I said standing up.

Not even a twinge from my right leg.

I stared at Daren. "How...?"

He winked and settled back with a smug smile on his face. "It'll last till morning. My gift to you who is filled with so much pain. A night to dance with your date." He stated.

I must have looked like I had been hit unexpectedly with a board. Then I looked at Sam. "Give me a glass of your strongest." I said determined.

He looked incredulous after everything I had already drank but shrugged and poured me the glass.

I clicked Orchids third and seldom used trigger and it folded into a hand sized tube. I tucked it into my bra.

Then I downed the glass. It burned like fire in my belly and made me a little fuzzy brained. I turned to the smirking Daren. "You have no idea what you've done." I said.

His smirk faded a little. Then I leaned over and kissed him.

"Thank you." I stated before turning on my heel and walking with swinging hips out onto the dance floor.

A song came on and I let the energies of the room enter me in my drunken state.

I hadn't danced in so long.

Yang was surprised to see me and I winked slyly at her, moving my hips to the rhythm.

It felt strange to put weight on my right leg, but my body soon remembered how to dance. And when the beat dropped, I did too.

My body moved and rolled in smooth waves and eyes all around the room fixed on me. Some mouths dropped open, including Yang's.

Omar had made me learn how to dirty dance which he enjoyed watching. I learned other forms along the way, but I learned to dance to please.

After all fighting and dancing were very similar.

"Where did you learn to do that?!" Yang shouted, flushed from watching.

I just gave her a secret smile and I walked toward her. "Want to learn?" I said, sliding my hands onto her hips. "I-I-uh..." She stuttered as I turned her around and pressed her body against mine.

I moved my body and hers followed. I guided with hands and hips and the more we danced the tighter she was pressed against me.

Her hands rested on mine and they grew hotter with every roll of my body, and every grind of hers.

In a moment between one song and the next, I stepped in front of her and guided her hands to my hips. My lovely rounded backside pressed against her and I could feel her excitement and embarrassed attraction.

"Hold on." I advised when the song started.

I kept it rather slow, with bigger movements so the befuddled Yang could keep up.

I loved her surprise when I dropped it to the floor and then slid myself up her legs.

"I think I need another drink." She said laughing and she walked off the floor blushing.

I laughed in return.

"Can you salsa? Merengue? Tango?" Daren said coming up behind me as the next song came on. I laughed as people paired up except for Yang who was talking to Sam.

"I can indeed, thanks to you." I said taking his hand.

"T'is a gift to see you free of pain, Quicksilver. And may I say, your dancing has made every male and most of the females in this club hot and eager to see more. You know how to move this beautiful body." He said whirling me around.

The footwork was complicated but it was like remembering how to ride a bike, the steps coming back.

"You are quite the dancer yourself." I said back, starting to really feel the effects of my drinks.

"Ah, dear lady, I am a dance instructor. Though, I've never taught someone the way you taught your date to dance. Though, with you, I think I'd like to try." He said, his eyes smoldering.

I laughed freely, like I hadn't since the night I met Oz. His blatant flirting made me feel good.

I was desirable tonight.

"How'd you do it? How did you make all this possible?" I asked wondrously. I had planned to drink the night away.

Instead, this stranger with bright blue eyes, ash gray colored hair and a mysterious smile in a dance suit a little darker than his hair had allowed me to dance.

"My Semblance is easing physical pain. I sensed your near constant pain when you first walked into the room. And I could see the longing on your face to be on the dance floor. I cannot heal a wound but I can take the pain of it away. The wish was there for me to grant and I'm more than glad that I did. I haven't seen dancing like yours in ages. I've been working far too long with amateurs." He said dramatically as he spun me into a complicated series of moves.

A small area was cleared for us in the middle and people enjoyed watching us.

Yang was smiling and I winked at her before I flung my leg over Daren's shoulder and was swung around.

I was glad that I had worn pants instead of a skirt. "How can I repay you?" I asked before I was whirling and shimmying again.

"Perhaps we can work something out? I need a new dance partner who is up to my skill level." He said, grabbing me by my hips and flinging me into the air.

"I think we can work that out." I replied as he dropped me into a perfect dip on the last beat of the note.

We walked off the floor with applause thundering.

"Dahlia, I had no idea you were a dancer!" Yang cried. I smiled. She had consumed more alcohol. I looked at Sam who shrugged.

"No one knows, Yang. This is the first night I've been able to dance in years." I said, motioning for another drink.

I breathe deeply and smiled. "I missed it."

And while Sam poured my drink, Daren plugged himself into my Scroll and the location of his studio.

This would not be the last time I danced.

Yang's words began to slur and I decided that I was sufficiently intoxicated for the night.

I called for a taxi and Sam was more than happy to keep Yang's motorcycle for the night. He was just glad neither of us would be trying to get home on our own. Yang was listing badly and I was beginning to sway.

Daren called it quits long before Yang or I did.

My bill would be hefty but I'd never had to worry about money.

"Goodnight Sam! I love you man!" Yang shouted as we both left the building to wait for our ride.

There was no moon in the sky and the shadows were darker than usual.

Perhaps it was the darkness or my intoxicated state or a mixture of things I didn't understand.

But outside the building, I pull Yang against me and kissed her passionately.

She felt confused and vaguely turned on but something in her was telling her that this was wrong.

I was too drunk to care.

I pressed her back up against a pillar, hidden in the shadows. She was so hot... and submissive which was strange for someone who showed so much dominance in the rest of her life.

I kissed her neck before biting it gently. Incredibly gentle. If I really bit her, my fangs would pierce her skin and hurt her.

It felt so nice to be pressed up against her firm, curvy body.

She was too drunk to fight me for a while, then she began to push me back. "Dahlia..."

"I like you, Yang. I like you a lot." I murmured, my words slurring a little at the end.

"But I... I- and... you- but... Blake..." She said, desperately trying to get me to understand.

If I had not been an empath, perhaps I wouldn't have cared.

But I was. And I could not ignore the feelings she was pushing at me. Confusion, embarrassment and when she said Blake's name, a touch of longing.

_Ah, so my little sister is the one you think about._

I couldn't keep pressing her, knowing how she felt. I ran a hand down her hair tenderly.

"I understand , Yang. Thanks for coming tonight." I said, kissing her gently on her kiss swollen lips.

"We're still friends right, Dahlia?" She said. I could feel her intense need to keep the bond she had with me. I hugged her tight. "Of course Yang. We'll always be friends."

Her fear of losing me eased and when the taxi arrived, we slowly climbed inside.

Back at Beacon, it was an adventure trying to find our rooms. I made sure Yang was in hers before slowly, I began making my way to my room.

It wasn't long before Daren's gift wore off and I felt the pain. I pulled Orchid from my shirt and reopened her. I leaned and wobbled, weaved and stumbled.

I was punch drunk.

And I was going the wrong way.

Naturally.

My vision swam and my head felt like I was underwater.

"Ms. Derivalle?" A voice said behind me. I barely heard them. I swayed and began walking again. "Dahlia?" That familiar voice said again.

A face appeared in front of me.

"Ozzzzzzz." I said happily. I stumbled forward to hug him.

Wow he smelled really good. So I buried my face in his chest and inhaled deeply. "Dahlia, are you drunk?" He asked with a bit of laughter in his voice.

I nodded happily.

Everything was better with Oz.

"How'd you get back to Beacon?" He asked, rubbing his hands up and down my back. It felt so nice. I shivered a little bit. "Taxi." He huffed a sigh of relief.

"You're so handsome, Oz." I said touching his face and petting his hair. He chuckled. "And you are very drunk, Dahlia. Let's get you to bed now-" I cut him off with a kiss. Just one short kiss.

I didn't know why. I just did it.

He tasted like the coffee he was always drinking.

His face was stunned. I felt his heart leap and the most peculiar feeling filled his chest. "So handsome." I murmured, running the backs of my fingers over his cheek.

He cleared his throat. "Ms. Derivalle-"

"Don't call me that. Don't shut me out." I said piteously, disgusted with my own behavior. He sighed and the warm feeling I felt before was replaced with anxious concern and resignation.

"Dahlia." He said gently as he pulled me along. It took a while to get back to the room because I kept tripping and trying to wander off. But we made it.

"Do you know the best thing about being drunk?" He asked outside my door.

I shook my head and heard my brain swish around inside.

"You never remember what happened in the morning." He murmured.

I was going to kiss him first, but then he leaned his head down and gently kissed me.

His left hand cradled the back of my head, while his right arm pulled my body tight against his.

His breathing was harsh as I went to deepen the kiss and he broke off from it. "No, my dear. I don't think I'm ready for that yet." He said breathless. I smiled and gave him a peck on the lips. "Then I will wait till you are."

His feelings were a jumble that I didn't have the coherency to sort out.

I hugged him tightly and whispered goodnight in his ear before opening the door and slipping in without a sound.

I fell on my bed, still clothed and in makeup, too tired and emotionally battered to think before the darkness swallowed me.


	11. Chapter 11

The city of Vale was decorated and ready for the arrival of the people from the other kingdoms. Everyone was talking about the Vytal festival.

Balloons and streamers graced every telephone wires and buildings, streets were cleaned, windows polished. Vale was putting on an impressive show.

"Wow, I haven't seen this place look so nice since, well, ever." Elise said adjusting Serenity on her back. "You're right but I appreciate the change." Elin said, nudging Peyton who was eyeing a pastry shop with a gleam in his eyes.

I laughed at him. "Elin, go with him. Make sure he doesn't make himself sick." I said, putting some money in their hands. "Thanks, Mom." "Bless you, oh fearless leader." Elin and Peyton said happily at the same time, grabbing each other's hand and walking into the shop.

"I wish you'd tell me where you got all this money. It's like you're a magician. You rub two fingers together and poof. You have enough money to cover the damages to that bar I got in a fight at." She said throwing her hands in the air.

I just smiled.

I had enough money to buy every stone, board and nail in Vale and still have some left over. And to be fair, I broke quite a few things myself in that fight.

Those guys should have thought better about choosing Elise to harass. Her temper was never the best.

"Perhaps I am a magician." I said conspiratorially. She grinned. She was nearly bursting with excitement.

Today, the students from the other schools would be arriving in Vale.

Elise was bent on studying her competition that she had been training hard for weeks to defeat. I had every confidence in my little friend, who's Semblance was simple but powerful.

We walked past the docks where we saw team RWBY and waved. "See? Told you wouldn't be alone. Weiss is checking out the competition too." I said nudging Elise who looked self-conscious.

Elise eyed the Dust shop wrapped with police tape but I told her we were not going over there. Team RWBY went over there and soon were in deep heated discussion. Weiss said something and Blake hummed with anger. Weiss was full of righteous indignation tinged with hate, not something I usually felt from the lovely snow girl.

Yang was beginning to get upset with Weiss as well and I thought about going over there to soothe whatever was going on but I decided that it would only make more problems if I intervened.

I saw the shop I was wanting to visit down the street but a yell from the ship currently docked from Vacuo distracted me.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!"

I saw two figures chasing another who hopped on the railing and leapt a tremendous distance to the dock. "Thanks for the ride guys." He said laughing. I saw the monkey tail as he jumped and laughed rolling my eyes. Monkey-Faunus were always getting into trouble.

"You no good stowaway!" One of the men yelled angrily. The Faunus boy was hanging by his tail upside down on a lamp, peeling and eating a banana cross legged.

"Hey, a no good stowaway would've gotten caught. I'm a great stowaway."

Even Elise giggled at that. I guess he heard us because he winked at us, grinning crazily.

Then the policemen who had been investigating the Dust shop approached him and demanded he come down. The boy just threw the banana peel into the lead policeman's face. His rage was palpable to me.

The Faunus boy curled himself up onto the top of the lamp and laughed.

He was filled with mischievous delight.

He looked into my eyes and I raised one eyebrow. He had short spiky golden hair, the same color as his tail, handsome tan features and dark gray eyes shining with that mischievous happiness that I felt was contagious.

He wore an open loose-collared white jacket with no shirt underneath and the sleeves rolled up, revealing his muscular tan torso, red wrist bracers, blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt with white bandages underneath that showed below the edge of his pants down his calves and he had a chain hanging from his belt loop on the right side.

His black and yellow sneakers were beat up and around his neck he wore a long twisted gold chain necklace from which a round gold pendant stamped with a monkey crest.

With that sweet grin he had, he leapt high, perform a half side spin before landing at a run. He turned to run down the street, passing team RWBY as he did so.

His interest sharpened when he saw Blake. His head turned as he passed her and her feelings grew muddled.

He ran with incredible speed, vanishing quickly around the corner before the police made it up the stairs.

Yang said something and Weiss jolted into action, taking off after the police.

The rest of team RWBY followed suite, except Blake who hesitated.

"Well, that was interesting." Elise said. "Well, dear, you just saw your competition for the tournament." I said laughing at her dumbstruck expression. "I'll crush him." She said.

I fed her ego a little before turning toward the arts shop, called Creativity.

I had some things to pick up.

"Why are we here?" Elise asked. "I need some things and this is one of the better shops I've found."

"I bet Elin and Peyton are having a romantic time in that sweet shop. They are so cute!" Elise said, looking at some art work submitted to the shop.

Another thing I liked about Creativity was how they encouraged art in every way they could. Any art given to them by their patrons they displayed for all to see.

Hey! Dally, did you do this one?" She cried looking at a landscape charcoal drawing.

Heat suffused me. I didn't think she'd notice the picture of the view from our window. "Yeah."

She stared at it. "You're really good." She murmured.

I just smiled as I perused the shelves.

I picked up a new set of charcoal sticks, paints and brushes and pencils and all the things I had run out of in my art set.

I went back and forth over a set of canvas' till Elise just told me to get them. The last thing I bought I told Elise to go get Elin and Peyton.

I found the right thing and placed an order for thirty of them to be delivered to my room.

There was no way I could carry all of those.

I was suppressing serious excitement when my team came. I wanted to tell them what I was doing but I was determined to make it a surprise.

"Hey, Dahlia, when we were coming back we saw Blake and Weiss hardcore arguing. They were still yelling at each other when they all left. And... we made a new friend."

Elin sounded unsure of himself when a cute girl popped her head out from behind Peyton. "Salutations!" She said with a bright smile plastered on her face. I was startled out of my wits. "Um, hello." I said.

She was short with rather curly orange hair that came down to her chin and one little curl stood up on the top of her head, some of it pulled back with a large pink bow on the back of her head. She had neon green eyes, light skin and a spray of freckles across her face.

She wore an old fashion blouse with short feminine overalls that became a skirt at the bottom lined in places with that bright green that was also on the inside of the bottom of her skirt, with a black and green high collar with matching pairs of black and green pant-style thigh high stockings and black shoes. On her back was a curious thin backpack.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Likewise. I'm Dahlia." I said leaning on Orchid. My bag of supplies was heavy on my arm. "Hello, Dahlia. Are these your friends?" I nodded smiling. She felt so vibrant. Everything seemed to bring her joy.

She had an innocent sweetness to her that I enjoyed but there was something off about her that I couldn't put a finger on.

"Do you know Ruby?" I nodded again. "Ruby is my friend." She announced proudly.

My heart took a blow. She was so unlike me but I remembered the pride I felt after I met Elise. My first friend. "Ruby is a good friend." She nodded fast. "What are you doing in Vale?" I asked.

"I'm here to compete in the tournament. I'm combat-ready!" She said saluting us. I flinched at those words.

I also remembered being called Combat-ready. I prayed that her context was vastly different than mine.

"That'll be fun. Well, we must get back. But I'll look for you when I'm here."

She smiled that smile. "Friends?" She asked. My teammates looked long-suffered but I ignored them.

"Of course, Penny."

Her hug was tight and set me off balance. I nearly fell but I planted Orchid and rebalanced as she skipped away. "Bye Elin! Bye Peyton! Bye Elise! Bye Dahlia!"

I turned to my team. "Don't give me that look."

Elin grimace grinned. "Why is it, oh fearless leader, you always make friends with the weird people?" I snorted. "What does that make you?"

He shrugged and slid his hand into Peyton's who grinned silly at me.

"I make friends with the weird people who don't have a lot of friends because I am one of those weird ones and I know what it's like to desperately want friends. If it makes her happy to think that we are friends, then why would I say no? Empath, remember?" I said as we began walking to the bus that would take us back to Beacon.

"She's psychotic."

"She's a little different."

Elin looked at me but I just smirked and raised an eyebrow. Then he sighed. "I guess she isn't too bad."

I smiled triumphantly. Monday evening I was headed to Daren's studio for practice. He and I had come far from the night at the Raindance.

There was supposedly a dance contest at the festival and he and I planned to enter together.

"Do you guys want to come see me dance?" I asked without thinking. All three heads whipped around.

"Yes!" They said at the same time. I was startled.

"Oh." Peyton rolled his eyes.

"We've been wanting to see you dance till you told us about Daren. We just didn't want to ask you. It seemed too personal. Everyone want to see you dance especially since Yang's been talking about it all the time.

I laughed. "I had no idea. Well then, Monday all of you will come with me to Daren's studio. Maybe he'll give you guy's lessons." I teased. Peyton had two left feet but he thought it was funny too. He shuddered. "I'm good."

I was content. I had my surprise and my friends wanted to see me dance.

And I had a night with Oz to look forward to.

* * *

The anger permeated the hall. _Oh boy._ Weiss and Blake were still butting heads.

My order from Creativity arrived that evening and I kept it all very secret from my team, burying the items deep in my trunk.

"Dahlia, should you go and sort that mess out?" Elin said uncertain.

I was uncertain too. I was reluctant to intervene. The problem would come back. It's usually best to let that sort of thing work itself out. But Blake and Weiss were circling and it was affecting everyone.

Maybe it was time for me to go mediate.

"Dahlia!" I heard someone cry. The feelings had changed.

Ruby came charging in. "Blake ran away. I can't find her." I stood up quickly. "What happened?" I said to the little team leader who looked beyond concerned.

"Weiss and her were still arguing over the Faunus and the White Fang and Weiss told us about the war with her family and said some nasty stuff and then Blake kind of..." She trailed off.

"Blake what?" I said urgently. I didn't like what I was feeling.

"Blake said, "Maybe we were just tired of being pushed around.' Blake is a..." I sighed angrily. "Yes, she's a Faunus. She doesn't like it broadcasted so everyone keep their mouths shut." I snapped. Everyone looked shocked at my tone but I didn't care. I was scared for Blake.

"Don't worry, Dally. We won't say anything." Elise said recognizing a protectiveness no one else saw.

And as Elise looked longer she began to piece together a strange puzzle. "I can't find her..." Ruby said quietly.

"She doesn't want to be found. She's told you something she didn't want you to know and now she is afraid of what you will think of her and now she's running from that fear. Don't worry, she won't run from me." I said grabbing Orchid.

"You knew?" Ruby said.

I turned and fixed her with a look. "I've known for a long time." I said before stalking out of the room, leaving behind three surprised faces and one very thoughtful one.

I clicked Orchid closed and tucked her into the sheath above my healing kit on my back and began to run.

The pain was excruciating but I needed to find my little sister. It was an all-consuming need.

I caught a feel of her Aura and slid along the hall to turn a corner. I heard a surprised, "Dahlia?" as I went but I didn't turn to see who it was.

I was feeding on my pain and following the ever weakening feel of my baby sister.

She was outside in the front courtyard of the school, in front of the statue of a Huntsman and a Huntress standing above an agonizing Beowolf that didn't much look like a Beowolf. It looked like a wounded beast. A part of what we were.

Her feelings were sharp and painful. Hurt over her friend saying things that were indirectly about her, anger that Weiss was so judgmental, fear that now her friends didn't want her and there was a tinge of memories to her.

The pain was too much so I pulled Orchid out and leaned as I walked over to my little sister.

She reached up and pulled her bow off, revealing the cat ears on the top of her head. I came up behind her slowly.

"Why, Dahlia? Why does everyone hate us?" She said. Blake, who rarely cried, had heavy tears falling down her face.

I turned her around and wrapped my arms around her. "They are afraid of us. And what one fears, one destroys." I whispered, rubbing her back slowly.

"Weiss hates me." She sobbed.

"No. She doesn't hate you. She is figuring your heritage into her image of you and she is still figuring out how she feels. But she can't hate you. You can't hate the ones you truly love." I murmured.

"But I helped steal the train car full of Dust! I made her childhood awful!" I shushed her. There was nothing she could do to change the past.

She clung tightly to me. "For a long time I thought you hated me." She confessed tearfully. I chuckled. "How could I hate the one good thing in my life. I love you more than anyone in the world and there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. After my Mum… you were all I had left in this world besides my father. And he's evil. Even after what happened, I couldn't bring myself to tarnish your memory with hate. I needed it too much. I needed something good and that was always you. My love for you was my only lifeline." I told her, petted her hair softly. Mentioning my Mum made both of us cringe inside, remembering it as if it were yesterday.

It was all too easy for Blake to see her own Mother in place of mine. She had been there, hiding in another room, when Omar had finally broken me to his Regime. She could sometimes still hear my Mother screaming through the walls.

I could still see her in front of me as I was helpless to do anything but watch. Shaking my head, I forced aside my memories and focused on Blake.

I gently sealed the crack in her heart and eased a bit of the pain that all Faunus carry inside them.

"Take your time, Blake. But don't shut your friends out. You need them as much as they need you." I pulled her back and kissed her forehead. "I need you too." I said nuzzling her cheek.

Then I left her to contemplate everything I said.

She'd be okay and she'd feel better now that her team knew.

Once I was barely inside, I caught the feel of another person outside with Blake. But when I peeked outside, I saw that blonde monkey boy smiling at Blake and I relaxed.

As I began walking back I heard Oz's voice behind me. "I always wondered about the sister who drew you your first tattoo ." He said.

I whirled around. I never meant for anyone to know of my relationship to Blake. His smile was gentle. "Relax. Your secret is safe with me." I sighed and smiled. "We're not actual sisters..." I said walking next to him. He waited for me to finish. "We were both very young when we were thrown together and once we had sorted out who was who and what was what, we did an old blood binding oath. She's my blood-sib. Even closer than a flesh sister." Oz processed this answer, considering the weight of my words.

"So your Mother was a Faunus?" I nodded. Another thing I had wanted to keep secret. "Yeah. My mum was a Wolf Faunus. Blake's is a Cat-Faunus. It took us a while to figure out the pecking order." I said looking down. "Will you be at the garden tonight?" I murmured, looking at him. He had come every night since but I still asked. He looked sad.

"I'm afraid I have a meeting tonight and tomorrow and won't make it. But I'll be there Sunday night. I promise." I nodded. He was a Headmaster and that came first.

"Promise?" I murmured. He held up his pinky and I wrapped mine delicately around his. "Promise."

"Sunday then." I said before looking around. When I saw no one I gave him a quick peck before vanishing down my hall.

His warm feelings filled me and I felt like things would be alright. I could trust Oz with my secrets. And that night, I would begin my surprise.


	12. Chapter 12

Blake did not come back that night. Nor the night after.

Team RWBY was in a stitch trying to find her. I kept my mouth shut and refused all questions. I would give Blake the time she needed. And the time Weiss needed to sort out her hatred of the White Fang and her deep care of Blake.

She came and had a very long talk Saturday night in the library. We talked long into the evening as I Healed and listened to Weiss' tale of a sad childhood for a bright, young girl who had been sat on by her father for so long she was afraid to breathe for fear of disapproval. Something I could relate well to.

It helped her but I would not affect her decision. It was not my job to play puppet master. That title belonged to one man.

The three of them set out to search that Sunday morning while my team lazily stayed in bed. I let them and continued on my surprise while they slept. It would take forever to complete and I used every spare second to work on it.

I didn't worry too much about Blake. She'd come back when she was ready and if she needed help, she had ways of getting me. Besides, she wouldn't miss class on Monday.

I had asked if team RWBY and JNPR would like to come to Daren's studio and everyone readily agreed.

Daren was excited for an audience. He had a flare for the dramatic. So Sunday was spent being lazy. Elise took a day off from her extra workout routine to hang out all day. Peyton and Elin snuggled for most of the day and I worked. We had finished all of our homework last night.

"Aren't you worried about Blake?" Elise asked. I shook my head.

"Blake is a capable warrior. She's fine." I said.

"I thought you'd be more worried since your sister's missing." She said casually.

My hand froze and my body coiled with anger. How had she found out?

I looked at Elin and Peyton, dead asleep.

"Relax. I figured it out for myself and I haven't told anyone. It's not for me to tell. But I am interested in knowing some of the details." She said coming to sit next to me. She smiled and I relaxed. Now two people knew of my strange relation to Blake Belladonna. How frustrating.

I closed my eyes. "Blake and I aren't biological sisters…" Elise nodded, understanding immediately. "Blood-sib." I looked at her surprised. Not many people knew of the old rituals.

She shrugged. "I come from a rural town. Lonely single children often find Blood-sibs. It's a respected tradition in our town." _And here I thought it was just a Faunus tradition._

"Blake was the best thing in my life. But four years ago, things happened and we had parted ways." I said remembering the aching sadness when I watched Blake walk away from me as I was held down by Omar's men.

"You have no idea the shock and surprise I felt when I found her here of all places. We agreed to keep the blood-sib thing quiet." I said looking into her dark brown eyes.

"How did you figure it out?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. No one had made the connection between Blake and I since we were children.

"It was the way you acted on Friday when Ruby told us about Blake running away and her secret." She smiled. Elise could be clever but no one ever expected it.

"You were so protective. It was like watching me with Elin. And that got me thinking. Then I thought about the way you would look at her and you two would almost know what the other was thinking. You both never talk about your childhood or where you came from before. You said you knew she was a Faunus for a long time and I knew you had some Faunus in you... I've seen you brush your teeth, silly. Everything just added up that you were related. And I knew you were sisters because I don't act that protective over my cousin. It's just with my brother. So that's how I figured out you were sisters."

I smiled at her deductive skills.

"We used to look like real sisters, you know." She laughed. "I had black hair before but stuff happened and all of it turned silver. My eyelashes and eyebrows too. Everything except this." I said pulling my hair over my shoulder and showing her the special strands of hair that were still coal black.

"I hear you say 'stuff happened' a lot when you talk about the past but you never say what stuff." She said touching my black strands.

"I have many secrets." I said quietly. She eyed me. "You gonna tell me?" She asked.

I smiled. "If I told you, they wouldn't be secrets now would they? Besides you had fun figuring out one on your own. It wouldn't be fun if I just gave you the answer." She stuck her tongue out and I laughed.

She looked curious for a moment. "So what kind of Faunus are you?" I bared my teeth in a smile. "Mum was a Wolf-Faunus." Elise looked fascinated. "So why haven't I seen you howl at the moon?" I slugged her in the arm as she mock-howled. "That wasn't even a proper howl. Sometime soon I'll show you a proper howl." The small girl grinned and hugged me tight.

I had good friends.

* * *

Something was wrong. I could feel it.

Something with Blake.

"I'm going for a walk." I told my team before I left. They looked mildly confused but didn't question it. I had belted on all my bags to my legs, ready for whatever was going on.

I vanished into the hallways and quickly exited the Academy. I hopped on the evening bus into the city and sat anxiously tracing the orchids on my silver staff. She wasn't in danger yet but I could feel something coming.

I added extra rounds and knives to Orchid, filling her capacity. Somehow I had the feeling I'd need them.

When I stood in Vale, I breathed deeply. I closed my eyes and opened myself to the city, allowing everyone's feelings to batter me.

The last time I had done this, it had driven me half mad.

I clung to myself to avoid being swept away. I felt the people I knew and registered in my mind where they were. Ruby was with another girl. It took me a moment to recognize Penny. Yang was with Weiss. And there was Blake with the blonde Faunus across town at the unloading docks.

Immediately shutting everyone out, I took a few minutes to center myself again. It was incredibly dangerous to do that. No one can handle the feelings of an entire population.

Since I knew where Blake was, I took off at a run with Orchid in my hand.

It didn't take me long to find them. And see the danger that had just arrived. The two were up on top of a building across from a Schnee Dust shipment.

I hid in the shadows pushing one thought across my mind and into everyone else's.

_There is no one here._

As a child, I had learned of a special ability. I couldn't tell if it was a part of my Semblance, but under the right conditions I could make myself invisible. All I did was convince someone's brain simply that there was no one there.

It had its limitations. If someone focused really hard the 'spell' would break.

But since no one was expecting me, no one saw me.

I observed the bullheads landing and saw with a heavy heart, members of the White Fang getting off. With their white uniforms and the horrible new symbol on the back. A snarling dog head over three angry claw marks in bright red. And then the Grimm masks.

Memories pushed but I pushed back. I would not remember the Grimm mask.

_Humanity tried to make us into monsters, so we will wear the faces of monsters._

Blake felt sad. She had really not wanted to believe that the White Fang were involved in the crime in Vale.

But they were.

Here was the proof.

Their squad leader, holding a Dust machine gun motioned to his men. "Alright, grab the tow cables."

My eyebrows came together wondering. Why were the White Fang stealing so much Dust?

The answer came swaggering down the ramp a minute later.

"Hey! What's the hold up? We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment. So why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

Roman Torchwick. Oh, the sense.

The man had slanted green eyes and bright orange hair, his bangs were curiously long and covered his right eye. He wore a black bowler hat with a red band and a feather stuck in it.

He had long black eyelashes that I could see from where I stood that framed his eyes captivatingly; eyelashes that women everywhere envied.

His attire was a red-collared white suit jacket, a small gray scarf tied around his neck, black pants, black gloves with rounded sleeves and black shoes. In his right hand he carried Melodic Cudgel, his cane-cannon. His skill with that weapon was uncommonly good. I knew because I had fought against him many times in practice.

I sensed Blake's confusion and saw her stand up and pull her katana out of her cleaver sheath.

The boy tried to stop her but she was down and gone before he could. I watched and moved quietly after her as she quickly approached the group of thieves.

Torchwick was yelling at the squad leader before Blake came up behind him and put her katana to his throat. "What the? Oh for f-"

"Nobody move." She said.

_Real subtle, Blake._

I readied myself for the fight.

"Whoa. Take it easy there, little lady." I ground my teeth, wishing nothing more than to sink them into his throat.

The squadron of White Fang men gathered with their weapons trained on her even as she pulled her bow off revealing her cat ears.

"Brothers of the White Fang. Why are you aiding this scum?" She cried to them.

They all just smirked at her and lowered their weapons.

"Oh, kid. Didn't you get the memo?" Torchwick drawled.

"What are you talking about?" She replied pressing her katana deeper into his skin. "The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together."

Blake nearly hissed. "Tell me what it is before I put an end to your little operation." She said menacingly before another two bullheads flew overhead.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation." He replied blew the bottom of Melodic Cudgel popped open and pointed at the ground in front of Blake.

"Look out!" I cried. Everyone looked at me but Torchwick still pulled the trigger.

There was an explosion at Blake's feet.

She was blown to the ground and Torchwick turned and fired another shot. I jumped in front, twirling Orchid. The blast was halted and dissipated into nothing.

I looked him dead in the eyes. Or at least the one I could see.

He went pale.

"You."

I didn't hesitate before I began firing. He dodged and fired at Blake, not me.

Blake jumped and rolled out of the way and several of the White Fang descended on me. Torchwick kept firing at Blake but he didn't lose his pale complexion.

He too had seen a ghost.

Orchid became a bladed staff, spinning death in my hands. The White Fang's weapons were pityingly ineffectual against my whirling onslaught fed by pain and rage.

Blake ran behind some of the Dust containers. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty." He murmured.

That comment helped me finish off the eight who had attacked me.

Then twelve more attacked from behind. Orchid split into my bladed nunchucks.

I smiled and Torchwick shuddered. I wondered if he still had that scar on the back of his neck. Then the blonde boy dropped a banana peel on Torchwick's head.

Torchwick looked up furious. And the boy leapt from the building and landed on Torchwick's shoulders, knocking him to the ground. The boy flipped staying on his feet and saw me. "Oh, hello." He said conversationally, waiting for the White Fang to attack him. "Hello." I said whipping a blade through a deer-Faunus' neck.

"My name's Sun." He said admiring my fighting.

"Hello, Sun. I'm Dahlia. Pleased to meet you." I said sweetly as I whipped my right arm up and sliced a bull-Faunus from groin to head.

"I like your weapon." I smiled and easily swung Orchid back into a bladed staff and continued to fight.

"Thank you."

He grinned at me then looked at Torchwick who got slowly to his feet. "Leave them alone." Sun said, no laughter in his voice. I felt Sun's anger at the man.

I killed the last one before I looked up and saw dozens and dozens more leaping from the air ships.

Oh, how the pain and rage flared.

They formed around Sun and I. "You are not the brightest banana in the bunch are you kid?" He said to Sun, who just smiled.

"Obviously neither are you." I said flippantly before I issued a warning growl to the White Fang around us, trusting Sun to watch my back.

"You, I'll deal with later. After a long chat with Omar." He said evilly. Goosebumps rose on my skin at the thought of Omar knowing I was alive.

"I'll just have to make sure you never reach him." I said sweetly dangerous.

They ran at us. I danced into action as Sun used hand to hand combat at first. Then he pulled out and unfolded his own staff of red and gold.

"I like your weapon too." I said smiling.

His style was incredibly similar to my own but his was less graceful than mine. Just as much flipping, kicking and hitting with the staff but mine was prettier. Of course.

He kicked a White Fang member at the evil man just standing there. He ducked and growled.

Torchwick shot at my back but Sun used the same move as me to deflect it.

Blake leapt over me and him yelling "He's mine!"

I smiled as I killed. _Get him, Blake. Make him pay._

She was fast but Torchwick had also trained with me and he could still beat me if he tried.

He knocked her good, deflecting her every attack. Then Sun leapt over her and began his own incredibly fast attack.

His staff also split in half and then into nunchucks but his were shotgun nunchucks. He fired and whirled in a continuous attack, each swing cocking the pistols as he went. But again, Torchwick had trained with me for years and none of Sun's attacks landed. So threw myself backwards and whirled into attack. "Ah, just like old times, eh Roman?" I murmured. Sun attacked the next wave of White Fang as Torchwick and I danced. He had honed his skill and took advantage of my weakness.

Knowing he couldn't beat me fairly, he swung his cane into my leg, right where he knew it would hurt most. I yelled in pain and waited for the next blow but Blake leapt over me and nailed him in the chest sending him backwards into the ground. It was like we were playing a hardcore game of leapfrog.

Then he rolled to his feet and fire at the Dust container above us. Sun grabbed me and threw both of us out of the way and Blake flipped backwards.

Surprisingly, Torchwick aimed his cannon at Sun and not me.

A cold fear filled my chest.

_He wants me alive._

Sun just stared coldly up the length of Torchwick's cane as the cruel man smiled.

"Hey!" A girlish voice called from above.

Ruby had come to the rescue. Crescent Rose was already in battle mode and she whirled the point into the top of the building. Torchwick turned and looked up at Ruby.

"Oh Hello, Red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" He said sarcastically.

I tried to stand but my leg gave.

Sun, forgetting about the danger to himself, rolled to his feet, ran to me and put my arm over his shoulder.

As he hauled me to my good foot, I looked up and saw that Penny had joined Ruby on the top of the building. Well, she said she was combat ready.

Ruby got distracted by Penny and Torchwick took the opportunity to fire a shot at Ruby that she wasn't ready for.

"NO!" I yelled as hit collided with her. Her Aura saved her but she was knocked back hard. Torchwick gave a wicked cackle.

Fury reigned in me and no longer did I need Sun to support me.

Another wave of White Fang attacked and I slaughtered them.

I felt inhuman rage from the top of the building and saw Penny step to the edge.

Ruby cried weakly for her to stop but Penny was ready. And I watched fascinated as a dozen foldable swords came out of her back without help. They unfolded and fanned out behind her as she leapt off the building.

Now that Torchwick had shown them my weakness, the Faunus now purposely aimed for my weak leg.

Penny was god sent. Her swords flew without command at Penny's will, cutting down the Faunus as she went. They flowed with her movements and followed her kicks like a deadly fan. I didn't know how she did it but it was incredible to see.

Then three more bullheads arrived and fired. I was still fighting and Blake tackled me out of the way. We rolled to our feet, easier for her than me and continued fighting. Sun was at my back and we fought well together. Our styles were so similar that we knew instinctively how to fight together.

Penny's swords fanned and whirled, protecting her from the gun fire. Then another two came out of her back and buried themselves in the building behind her.

I could barely see the strings that attached itself to her. It pulled her back and anchored her as she knelt.

Her swords came together and whirled faster and faster and a bright green ball formed in the middle. I felt a buildup of power before Penny made a punching movement with her body and a green beam powerful enough the shatter the concrete beneath her shot out and cut the two bullheads in half.

They crashed into the ocean in a fire explosion.

_What was that?!_

There was only one flying bullhead left. Penny shot her swords into its side and I saw those thin wires attached. She held her arms out and began to walk backwards, using the swords behind her to pull her back.

I was still fighting hard but I was amazed by her abilities.

The bullhead sagged down. Those wires were strong.

She kept backing up further and further till she yanked herself down and the bullhead crashed into the stacks of Dust containers.

Torchwick ran towards the landed bullhead. I ran after to stop him. I had to kill him before he told Omar I was alive.

"These kids just keep getting weirder." He muttered before meeting my eyes.

"Be seeing you, Dahlia. Welcome back to the living." He said before the door shut and the bullhead took off. The door shut before my three knives could reach him but they buried themselves in the door.

I fell to my knees.

Penny tried to catch them but they were gone too quickly.

I felt tears fill my eyes and the energy was leaving me as rage was replaced with fear and despair.

Blake and Sun came over to me and I was forced to control my face.

_I never meant for Omar to find out I was alive._

All the time I had been running and now it was worthless. But now I had a team. A pack. I had something to protect. I wouldn't let Omar take me back.

Then I began to wonder. What's Torchwick doing with the White Fang stealing so much Dust?

The whole idea stank of Omar and his ilk.

Sun helped me to my feet and I retracted Orchid into my walking staff and leaned on her hard.

My leg hurt so bad from Torchwick's blow and the White Fang's hits, I could barely walk. "Here, sit here." Blake said, motioning to some wooden boxes. Penny joined us and asked if I was going to be okay. The worry in her made me smile.

Sun had stored his weapon again and we all sat down. It wasn't long before the police came.

Ruby joined us on the ground and everyone talked a lot except me. I had too much to think about. And I cleaned Orchids blades while I was thinking about it.

"Are you alright?" Blake finally asked. I nodded slowly, putting a hand on my leg. She had a vague idea of why I was so troubled. Blake had always been training with the White Fang while Omar had trained me, using his other children and his pets, like Torchwick, as my practice dummies.

Then Yang and Weiss strode up.

Ruby jumped up and put herself between Blake and Weiss but I sensed nothing in Weiss that was bad. Just determination.

"Look, Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. You see, she doesn't actually where a bow, she has kitty ears and they are actually kind of cute." Ruby rushed to explain but Weiss didn't even look at her. Her ice blue eyes were focused on Blake.

Blake stood and stared at Weiss. "Weiss, I want you to know that I am no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with-"

"Stop." Weiss said coldly. "Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?... Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours I've decided... I don't care." She said taking a step towards Blake. Yang looked relieved.

"You don't care?" Blake said astonished. "You said you're not one of them anymore, right?" Weiss said.

"No, I haven't been since I-"

"Up, up, up. I don't want to hear it."

Ah, Weiss the rude.

"All want to know is that next time when something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates and not some... someone else." She said looking at Sun.

Everyone was smiling and Blake wiped the tear that escaped her right eye. "Of course." Weiss' smile was happy and I could feel the rifts healing.

"Yeah, team RWBY is back together!" Ruby cheered.

They all got in a circle except for me, who stayed sitting, and Penny who had climbed into the back seat of an expensive car, motioning for me to keep silent. Another secret, I supposed.

Weiss whirled on Sun with a pointed finger. "I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you." Sun laughed nervously.

"Hey, wait a minute. Where's Penny?" Ruby asked. I looked down and smiled as I ran the cleaning cloth over my gleaming blades.

I was very good at keeping secrets.


	13. Chapter 13

**Torchwick handed the handsome man, who sat casually with his feet on his desk, the knives that had pierced the side of his bullhead. They had buried themselves so deep that the points had actually entered the inside.**

**The man smiled and sucked on his cigar. The tip flared red and he breathed out the thick gray smoke in a massive cloud.**

**He put two knives down on his desk but kept one in his hand which he began tossing in the air with incredible ease.**

**What a clever, clever girl.**

**He was so proud of her.**

**Torchwick just stared at his employer, wondering at the happiness on his attractive features.**

**He, on the other hand, was furious that Dahlia wasn't dead and that she had been out on her own since that last mission. He'd been heartbroken to learn that those red eyed bastards had killed her.**

**But the man named Omar Derivalle, the secret mastermind of Remnant, just sat there grinning, throwing his daughter's knife in the air.**

**"She's alive.**"


	14. Chapter 14

"Did you enjoy your evening?" Oz said as he came into the garden.

I grimace grinned as my leg ached.

He sat down and tried to look at my sketch but I hid it from him and tucked the book in my bag. "It's a surprised." I said in answer to his raised eyebrows.

His smiled made me happy and he slid his right arm around my shoulders. "Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do without you over break." He said mournfully as I snuggled into his side.

"You'll wait for me to get back, of course." I said smiling.

Elise, after she finished berating me over leaving her team behind to go fight, told me that she hadn't forgotten her promise and that I'd be spending my break with her and Elin in their hometown of Vasilius.

"Of course I will." He said and I tilted my head up for a kiss.

Tuesday I would leave with the Thayet's for break. I would miss Oz so much. His closeness and his ever listening ear and his unending compassion and patience with me.

There was no one who made me feel so safe as Oz.

Ever since he rescued me from the Forest of Forever Fall, he had been my safe haven, always full of wise words, good advice and a shoulder for me to lean on.

"You're so unbelievably beautiful, Dahlia. How did I get so blessed as to have you in my life?"

I laughed. "And you say you're not a romantic."

"I'm not. I've never done this before, darling. I have no idea what I am doing so I'm going to keep going with what I've been doing till I make a mistake."

I kissed his cheek. "You're doing wonderfully."

He smiled.

His very presence eased the burden I had shouldered earlier that evening. Omar was going to come for me. He'd never let go of what was his.

But when Oz wrapped his strong arms around me, it didn't matter. I was safe. And when we kissed, I felt a fire building inside me.

"You shouldn't go looking for trouble, dear one." He murmured after our lips parted. I smiled at him saucily.

"What makes you think I look for it?" He laughed and pulled me closer.

"You wear trouble like a crown."

I smiled. It was pretty true.

I nuzzled his cheek and he sighed happily. I liked that I made him feel so good.

"I'm glad you're safe. You scare me whenever you do things like you did tonight. Though how you and the others knew is something I am most interested in." He murmured. I kissed him sweetly. "A magician never reveals her secrets. I don't know what you are going to do when I become a Huntress. Besides it'll take much more than those children in the White Fang and a crook like Torchwick to take me down. I've tangled with him before. He is... afraid of me." I said shrugging.

"Who wouldn't be afraid of being on your bad side?" He said chuckling. "Obviously the Winchester brothers. They have no problem being in my bad book." He shook his head.

He wanted to beat those boys but he wouldn't let his personal feelings for me affect his work. "They are fools." He said running his fingers over my upper arm. It rose goose bumps on my skin. "Very much so. Honestly there isn't much to say about how we knew. Just happenchance, I suppose." I focused on the feeling of his touch on my skin.

"Your sister said something of the same when I spoke with her earlier. Just in the right place, at the right time." He said. He was worried over me and Blake.

"You needn't worry about me, Oz. I'll always be okay." I murmured sleepily. He kissed my head. "I'll always worry. I can't help it. I worry for those I care about. Especially someone I care about as much and as deeply as I do you, Dahlia."

I smiled at his protectiveness. It felt nice to be protected.

"Go to sleep, darling." He said getting us both on our feet.

"I'll dream of you. You'll chase away my nightmares." I said as he guided me out.

We hugged, "Of course I will. And you mine." He said before we kissed. I never kissed him how I wanted to. He was still too reserved. But one day, I'd show him how I wanted to.

"Goodnight, Oz." I said, limping away. "Goodnight, Dahlia." He said before he slowly walked away.

When I went to sleep, I dreamt of Oz happily before the nightmares came. I knew they would, but the first bit gave me hope.

My life wouldn't always be a nightmare.

* * *

Monday I packed the three teams into a transporter and excitedly chatted as we headed to Daren's dance studio aptly name The Dance.

Everyone was smiling, never seeing before how excited I got over dancing. And everyone was curious as to who Daren Glass was.

Daren, Dahlia's personal pain reliever.

There was much speculation that Daren was the secret tryst I went to see last night. Elin had been awake, wondering at my empty bed when I came back in from my time with Oz. I hadn't even seen him before I toppled into bed.

I couldn't very well tell them that I had been canoodling with the school's Headmaster. That would be taken worse than the gay relationship in my group. No one would understand.

So I had kept my lips sealed, letting them make up their own theories since no one would ever think that young, vibrant Dahlia would be falling for the older Huntsman.

So I let them pander back and forth and prayed the Daren wouldn't mind playing the part a bit.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the dramatic Daren Glass. He had cleaned himself up and was prepared to show off.

"My dearest Quicksilver. These are your compatriots?" He said kissing my knuckles. I smiled. "Yes, These are my friends. Everyone this is Daren Glass, Dance extraordinaire. Daren, this is Elise, Elin and Peyton, part of my team. This is Weiss, Ruby, Yang and Blake of team RWBY and Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and Jaune of team JNPR." He smiled and bowed. "Welcome to the Dance. I have dance attire prepared for you in the back." I nodded and We entered his magnificent studio and I showed them straight to the back to dress.

The boys complained about having to dance but I stared at them till they did as I said.

We changed into the generic dance outfit. A plain black leotard and mesh skirt and black heels.

The boys were in something similar but they wore black pants instead and polished black dance shoes.

Ruby was unhappy with the heels but she'd never learn if she didn't practice. And they were short heels anyways.

There would be a dance before the festival and I was determined that Beacon would put on a good show.

Then I vanished behind a curtain and waited for Daren.

"I like your friends, Quicksilver. They're a good bunch. Athletic. They'll make fine dancers. I had some of my other students come to be their partners." He said sitting down next to me.

"I'm excited Daren. I want them to love dancing." I said as he placed his hand on my leg and eased the pain.

"I have a favor to ask you, Daren." I murmured. He smiled. "Anything for my partner." His said grinning.

Daren was a great guy but I didn't feel anything for him but friendship and gratitude. And thank all Gods, he felt the same. I had too many secrets for him. He couldn't figure me out. He cherished our friendship but he had never really cared that deeply for anyone and I certainly wasn't going to be the first. We were best friends and nothing more, which made the favor that much easier.

"I need you to let some of the people in the room think that we are having a secret tryst." His eyebrow went up and I felt his intense confusion.

"I'm seeing another man but it has to be kept a secret. It's not exactly a relationship people would approve of. And some of my friends won't stop trying to figure it out. They think it's you and I'm willing to let them think that to keep it that way to keep my real relationship a secret." Daren got an excited look in his eyes. He liked nothing better than a good drama.

"I'll do it. It won't be hard but... you have to tell me who it is."

I groaned. I had hoped he wouldn't want to know. "I won't do it unless I know who I'm helping you have a tryst with."

My leg didn't hurt and it was time to start. "I'll tell you after." I said defensively. I didn't want anyone to try to get to Oz. Our relationship was supposed to be a secret.

"Oh, yes you will." He said smirking before taking my hand and leading me out.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats." He announced. His students mingled with my friends, preparing to pair up.

Then the music started, fast and lively. Music from Vacuo always was.

My heels clicked as I entered, centered on both my legs, without pain, smiling at my friends. Daren came and took my hand with a flourish.

He pulled me to him and together we began the incredibly complicated footwork to the song.

I was spun around a lot and my hair was a silver blur.

It was exciting and fun and I smiled the whole time as I was thrown in the air, spun and flipped. I moved my hips and feet at blinding speeds, dropping into splits and back without a blink.

Fighting and dancing were exactly alike, except, no one had to died when dancing.

I hadn't even broken a sweat when we hit the finishing pose.

Elise cheered wildly, eager to try.

Her partner was looking a little nervous to dance with my little friend. Her enthusiasm was formidable.

The biggest girl took Peyton much to Elin's slight chagrin. I nudged Elin over with the girls so that he could learn the female role in the dance. He and Peyton would be partners together during the Beacon Ball and it made this much easier.

"Men on this side, ladies on this side. My students show them the steps. In ten, we partner up.

I accepted the water he offered. "I think before they leave we need to give them something more. I want to do In Noctem." That was the piece we had planned for the festival. It was a slow, sad , beautiful piece that spoke to the heart.

"Are you sure? They might not be ready for that."

But Daren was firm. He wanted to perform our piece and gauge the audience.

I agreed, more or less indifferent to his choice. Though, I did love In Noctem.

After ten minutes, everyone paired up and began to practice a dance similar to the one Daren and I had just performed, but much slower and less complicated.

There was nervousness and tentative enjoyment that blossomed into real joy. Even Ruby and Peyton who didn't particularly like dancing began to enjoy themselves once they got used to the movements. I loved watching Blake dance. She was incredibly graceful; a natural, just like her big sis. She smiled happily when she saw me staring.

Jaune was incredibly good, a testament to his seven sisters.

But Elise's partner had trouble keeping up. "Daren, I think you should take Elise. She's wearing your kid out." I said.

Daren gracefully walked over to Elise, eyeing her curvaceous figure with heat and smiled before cutting in and bowing to Elise who blushed.

Well, Daren was easy on the eyes.

Her partner took a break with me. "Jeez, that girl is annoying. Pretty but annoying." He whined.

I felt very cold and it showed in my eyes. "She's a wonderful girl, with incredible talents and a beautiful soul." I whispered. He snorted.

"She's my best friend, boyo. So you might want to reconsider your statement before I get angry." I murmured deadly calm. I could feel his mounting panic.

"I-I'm so sorry, Ma'am."

I nodded and turned back to the dancers, refusing to speak with the ill-mannered boy.

With Daren, Elise calmed and I could feel her happiness like a warm glow.

Daren even felt himself warm to the bouncy, blunt blonde girl with her big pretty brown eyes.

This was a good idea.

By the end, all my friends were proficient in the one dance. Once we all got back from break, we would begin them on ballroom dancing.

Then Daren called everyone to attention. "Dahlia and I will be performing in the Vytal dance Contest and we want to give you a sneak peek. Tell us what you think."

I had changed my heels into the flat ballet pointe shoes with ribbons winding up my calves.

In Noctem was a dance of love, life and tragedy.

It was dramatic and slow and graceful. It asked for forgiveness and spoke of the lovely night and touching the stars, speaking to the dark sadness that resides within all creatures.

It promised remembrance for all time.

In Noctem moved me to tears. Even after all the practice I did, when Daren and I finished with the last slow flourish, I had to wipe away a tear that sat in the corner of my eye.

I wasn't the only one.

I left with my friends chattering and smiling, everyone feeling wonderful, lifting my spirits. I almost forgot about the threat looming over my head.

Almost.


	15. Chapter 15

Back to school.

"Oh, it's good to be back." Cried Elin, falling on his and Peyton's bed. "You said it. I missed Beacon." I murmured setting my bags on my bed.

I had finished most of my surprise but I still had some to finish.

The trip to Vasilius had been thrilling. Elise and Elin's mother had adopted me the second she met me, treating me like her own child. It was strange to have a real mother mothering me.

I was the motherly one in my group.

My own mother wasn't much to compare to. She had done her best with what she had been given in life. But the Thayet's mom changed a lot about my perspective of mothers.

Mama Thayet, a stout, generously figured woman who smelled of cookies and home was the ultimate mom and authority.

She was also one of the most understanding and accepting women I have ever met and my bond with her formed the second she looked into my eyes.

Elise and Elin had showed me every nook and cranny of their home town.

We had all sorts of mundane adventures and I captured all of it. I had bought the camera update for my Scroll. We took silly pictures, posed pictures, every sort in between. I took pictures of everything! But the really important things, I still drew in my sketchbook. Like the waterfall Elise had told me about so long ago.

A wonderful thing I had was an artist's eye and a photographic memory. I saw every detail of something and registered them in my brain before anything else. And I could call up an image from anywhere in my memory. Both these talents I used for my surprise.

"C'mon everyone's in the lunchroom!" Elise yelled pulling Elin and I to our feet and out of the room. Peyton locked the door behind him and followed.

The reunions were sweet. Everyone looked rejuvenated and excited. Tomorrow classes would start again.

In the hallway, I spotted a loving familiar figure in his formal green suit. I made eye contact with him.

His smile was gentle and secret and he raised his coffee mug in a salute. He looked calm but inside he was leaping with excitement.

Blake was staring at doodles in her school book that I took note of for further inspection later. Yang, who was catching the grapes that Nora was firing into her mouth from across the table, leaned obnoxiously over. "Whatcha doing?" I grinned and popped another blackberry in my mouth as Blake slapped the book shut. "Nothing just going over notes from last semester."

I snorted and Blake shot me the older-sister-stay-out-of-my-business look.

"Lame." Yang monotone before catching another grape. Nora was thrilled with the game.

Then Ruby slammed an incredibly large binder down onto the table, startling everyone out of their wits. I could feel her excitement and I tossed another berry in my mouth, then one into Elise's.

Ruby cleared her throat. "Sisters! Friends! Mother! Weiss..."

"Hey!"

Ruby motioned to me as she said Mother and I rolled my eyes.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

Yang leaned over. "This oughta be good." Catching a cherry Nora fired into her mouth. I tossed another berry into Elise's mouth and then into mine and nearly choked on it.

"A dream that one day, we would all come together and as teams, have the most fun anyone's ever had, ever!"

Weiss' first comment was, "Did you steal my binder?"

I really did choke on my berry, stifling a laugh. Ruby made two peace signs. "I am not a crook."

Blake looked at Ruby. "What are you talking about?"

Ruby beamed. "I'm talking about kicking off the semester off with a bang!"

I felt Yang's anticipation and groaned.

"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang. Eh? Guys? Am I right?"

Nora tossed an apple at her face booing her.

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester's going to be great! But classes start back up tomorrow. Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today!" She said proudly.

Weiss felt incredulous. "I'm not sure whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store."

Yang threw the apple back but nailed Ren in the face instead of Nora.

"I don't know. I think I might sit this one out." Blake said uncertain.

"Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day we should do it as a team." Weiss said standing up elegantly. Nora cried "I got it!"

"I for one think that-"

A pie to the face stopped her mid-sentence.

My blackberry froze in my fingers.

_Aiya._

The rest of Team RWBY that didn't have pie dripping down their face looked alarmed at team JNPR.

Nora was pointing at Ren who was holding a hand to his forehead while Pyrrha and Jaune shared matching faces of shock and horror.

Everyone stared. I looked at my team. "Team DEEP. Tactical retreat."

Elise, Peyton, Elin and I ducked beneath the table and quickly began retreating. "Oh no you don't!" Someone yelled and the table was knocked over.

It was Nora. I sighed as the food fight ensued.

A food fight between packs of deadly warriors. This would be good.

It was mayhem. Food flew everywhere, along with tables and drink machines. I snatched a big bowl of blackberries and found a safe place, high in the window frame to watch the chaos. My team joined me and I tossed more berries into their mouths.

For a moment, I saw Mykel smirking at me before he and his team vanished down the hallway. I hadn't seen much of him since the Forever Fall incident but he was always there, just out of the corner of my eye.

Someone hurled Jaune across the room into the window which he hit and slid down. I spotted Sun and a new face walked towards the door. I stifled a laugh. Boy did they pick the wrong day to come visit.

Finally, everyone ran away as Team RWBY and Team JNPR squared off. Team JNPR had built a massive construction of wildly thrown together tables. Nora stood at the top laughing maniacally while singing "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

I watched Sun and the new guy step through the doors, Sun smiling excitedly mouth open. The new guy looked shocked and slightly afraid. People were running out the door, parting around the two guys.

I turned my attention back towards the fight. Team JNPR stood on various levels of their tower. Ruby put her foot on a table holding a milk carton. She pointed at team JNPR. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!" She cried, squeezing the milk carton hard and punching it up in the air as team RWBY yelled battle cries behind her punching the air.

_Oh, this is going to be really good._

"Off with their heads!" Nora cried leaping to the ground. First up: Watermelons.

Ren jumped on a tray and roundhouse kicked three of them at the opposing team. Jaune did an impressive flip fling, Pyrrha started hurling them with just the strength in her arms and Nora, of course, flung a table full.

"Yang, turkey!" Ruby called to her sister, who flipped and slid two whole turkeys onto her fists, like her gauntlets Ember Celica and punched them together like she would. Then she began brutally punching through the melons.

Blake joined in the fight, grabbing two long begets.

I giggled seeing the similarities in the foods and the weapons the teams usually used. I looked at my team, who wanted to join in.

"Team DEEP, make me proud." I said, leaning back to enjoy my blackberries.

Joy filled them as the leapt into the battle.

Blake battled Pyrrha, who had one long beget alongside Yang who busted through the last watermelon before flinging her turkeys and nailing Jaune twice.

Elise grabbed an enormous t-bone steak and began to attack Ren, who was frightfully unprepared.

Elin grabbed up a pair of long sausage chains and attacked Ruby. Peyton grabbed two arm length crescent rolls and fought Nora.

And I sat back and enjoyed the show.

Blake got nailed by Pyrrha who also took out Yang with a spear throw- I mean beget throw.

Ruby leapt onto the tables that still remained in their lines, using a tray as a board. She flung it, hit Jaune, pulled out a second one and met Pyrrha who crossed her arms to defend but ended up getting knocked back.

Ren somehow managed to escape Elise, who was now on the offensive against the unprepared Jaune, and Ren ran at Ruby. Weiss leapt over Ruby with a ketchup bottle, which she used much like her sword when she stabbed the ground.

Ren slipped on the ketchup and slid like a bowling ball into a pile of tables. I flinched and yelled. "Good show Weiss! Bounce back Ren!"

I looked at Peyton. "Peyton, get that guard up!" He was fighting Pyrrha.

Nora used Ren's hit on the table's to leap up into the air and rip down a metal flag pole, which she stabbed into a watermelon.

Bam. Homemade war hammer.

No one could deny Nora's incredible skill as she slung her watermelon hammer around and delivered a powerful hit to Ruby.

Weiss took up arms with a swordfish.

I laughed till tears came and ate more blackberries. The red juice stained my fingertips.

Weiss knocked Nora back several feet but ended up getting slammed with a horizontal hit with Nora's hammer into the back wall. I'm fairly sure it almost knocked her unconscious but I sensed no danger. "Good hit, Nora! Way to hold up, Weiss!"

I mean, she was still intact.

Ruby cradled Weiss and dramatically cried. "Weiss! Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!"

The wall fell down behind her.

"Elin, move your feet faster!" I called.

Yang got a running start, somersaulting and scooping turkey back onto her fists.

Ren grabbed two pieces of kale and charged as well.

What a brave boy.

"Peyton, think before you charge. She's fast." I called to the big boy taking on Blake for a moment.

Yang kicked and Ren crossed his kale, blocking her.

Their styles were very different and that put Ren at a disadvantage that showed when he got punched up then down to the floor.

Nora's protective instincts kicked in and she slammed Yang up through the roof.

"I wonder how far she's going to go." I wondered out loud to my almost empty bowl of berries.

Blake performed a graceful attack with another length of sausage chain and knocked Nora into a soda machine.

Nora went long range with soda's that burst colorfully like her grenades.

"Stronger stance, Elise."

Elise's attacks were nigh unstoppable. She was masterful with her steak. "Wider and faster, Elin. Whip them harder! Make it hurt!"

I was proud of my team and their food fighting capabilities.

Blake was forced back by Nora's soda grenades.

Then I saw Pyrrha look with interest at the aluminum soda cans.

I swung my legs up onto the ledge, out of the way.

The red haired girl tapped into her Semblance and the cans rose at her command.

Blake was batter by the increased amount of cans and she was painted some interesting colors.

Then I saw the giant two pronged wave of cans, Pyrrha's massive thrust movement and knew Blake was done for.

I finished the last of my berries.

"Watch out, team DEEP." I called as Ruby got into a starting stance. I grabbed a hold of the sill and prepared.

She was off like a shot, moving so quickly she was just a red blur. Everything was gathered in the wind of her wake.

Tables, food, people, everything. I tossed my bowl into the storm and held on tight. At the end of the hall, Ruby turned fast and the back wall cracked with the force of her speed. Her Semblance was simple but impressive.

Team JNPR and my team were thrown up against the wall and pelted with everything, exploding in a million splotches of color.

Ruby landed with a flutter of her cape and slowly, the seven people that were so covered in stuff, you couldn't see them against the wall, slid down, leaving people shaped outlines in food on the wall.

I brushed a piece of lettuce off my sleeve.

Sun was still standing there with that open mouthed smile on his face. "I love these guys." He said to his friend who was mostly painted purple with either grapes or soda.

His friend was about to say something when Huntress Goodwitch shoved the doors open with an angry growl.

She flicked her crop and incredibly everything cleaned up and returned to its proper place.

"Children. Please. Do not play with your food." She said surprisingly calm as she pushed her wire framed glasses up her nose.

The ten team members sat exhausted at tables, covered in food. Nora burped and people began to giggle. I jumped down gracefully and walked over as Yang came down from her flight and put another hole in the roof.

She broke a table but was okay.

Goodwitch looked like she was going to explode as everyone began laughing.

"Let it go." A calm, laughing voice said behind the blonde huntress. She sighed and began to smile.

"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world." She murmured.

Yang stood up grinning and flashed the Huntsman and Huntress a thumbs up.

"And they will be. But right now they are still children." He said putting a hand on her shoulder. "So why not let them play the part?" He turned to walk away from her. "After all- it isn't a role they'll have forever." Oz finished before looking at me.

"Ms. Derivalle... you look astonishingly clean." He said with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

_Traitor._

There was a sudden silence and a malicious glee filled my friends.

"You're right, Professor." Elise said, standing up.

"She does." Blake finished and everyone began slyly looking at each other and smiling.

Goodwitch sighed.

I gulped.

_Oh Boy._

* * *

"Hold still." Oz said laughing as he picked chocolate chips out of my hair. I was grumpy with him.

"This is all your fault. You know that right?" He laughed.

We were in his office, hiding from my friends.

We sat on a low couch in a corner of the room with a gorgeous view of the entirety of Beacon and most of the city of Vale. Funny enough, this was the room I had planned on infiltrating the first time I saw this tower.

One on eleven were such bad odds when you weren't allowed to really fight.

"Oh, you had fun." He same, popping another chocolate chip into his mouth. "I got stuck with desert! All the sticky sweet stuff!" I griped.

My uniform was completely saturated with all many of dessert items ranging from syrup, cake, ice cream, cookies, whipped cream, fudge, pudding, to the chocolate chips that invaded my hair.

He kissed me. "You taste sweet too."

I stuck my tongue out at him. He smiled and wiped a bit of whipped cream off my face with his finger and stuck it in his mouth.

"I missed you. It was far too boring here without you." I grinned and kissed his cheek. "I missed you too, Oz, my dear. I was a little lonely without you. I've gotten so used to having you as my confidante. But it gave me a chance to work on a surprise I have for everyone, including you." I said, dropping the hint. I had finished Oz's and I would give his separately.

Our relationship was still so secret.

I wished sometimes that it didn't have to be, but now with Omar looking for me, everyone I cared for was in danger.

"A gift? For me?" He said incredulously. He was genuinely surprised. "Of course I have a gift for you. You're special to me, Oz. More than anyone, except for maybe Blake. Maybe." I said and heat suffused my face.

I had said before that I loved Blake. Luckily, he didn't catch the significance of what I said.

"What is it?" He asked happily.

I licked some whip cream off my upper lip. "It's a surprise, silly."

He kissed the rest of the sweets off my face and some off my neck.

I was slightly embarrassed by the sudden, voracious heat between my legs as he gently sucked all the sweets off the soft skin of my neck.

"I'll give it to you tonight, if you're nice to me." I said, knowing that I'd give it to him anyways.

He smiled and took off his spectacles and again slowly licked the whipped cream off my neck.

"I said... be nice." I said, my breath catching in my throat. I squirmed and he held me still.

"I am, aren't I?" He said with a husky voice that sent shivers down my back.

His kiss was gentle at first.

Then it wasn't so sweet. It was hot.

_Oh, I guess he feels ready._

His tongue hesitantly touched my lips which parted readily. I leaned forward and wrapped one hand around the back of his head, through his soft hair and one was on his back, pressing the hard planes of his chest against my aching breasts, not caring at all about the sticky state of my person. I kissed him hard, with all the passion that I had been saving up.

His hands trembled slightly as they gripped my upper arms then wrapped around my back and pulled me even tighter. His hands were so hot against my back.

Our tongues danced and we stoked the fires inside each other till we burned. It was hard to breathe, I was so intoxicated by him.

I bit his lower lip gently and sucked on it.

He moaned and that seemed to bring him back to reality.

We eased back to the easy kiss.

"Well." I said, breathing deeply. Never had I had to deal with lust before. Lust was not part of me. It had never been a part of me.

Apparently, Oz had proved that wrong.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

I looked at him confused and he seemed fixated on my kiss swollen lips. "Why?"

He tried to run his slightly sticky hand through his hair. "I was too forward." I laughed. "I've been waiting for you to be ready. I couldn't be happier, Oz. Trust me." I said pressed my thighs tightly together, as if that would relieve the pounding between them.

How did one deal with such savage emotions that triggered such physical responses?

"Maybe, I'm the one that's too forward." I said tucking my hair behind my ears.

"No!" Oz blurted out. I smiled. I leaned over and pressed my lips gently to his. Then I kissed the tip of his nose. "I missed you, moonflower."

"Will you come tonight?" He looked pained. I was sad. "I can't, Dahlia. I got a message today. General Ironwood is arriving here the day after tomorrow. I have things to prepare. and-" I cut him off with another kiss.

"I'll leave it in your room."

He raised an eyebrow. "You can't get in my room without me. You don't even know where it is."

I gave him a dangerous smile. "We'll see." I had every confidence in my abilities.

I rose, brushing my fingers over his cheek lovingly before I turned to leave. I pretended not to see the bulge my dear, collected Oz had between his legs.

With a secret smile I left, my hips swaying slowly.

* * *

That night, when Ozpin stumbled to his room after a long gritty meeting, he was amazed to find a package laying on his perfectly made bed.

How had I done it?

He wondered that well into the night, holding my gift in his hands, feeling love warming his heart.


	16. Chapter 16

**"You'll have to be careful, my sweet. No one will recognize you but my daughter. Your children she won't recognize but you she'll know at a glance." The man, Omar Derivalle, said to his pupil.**

**He enjoyed seeing her in her little Haven school girl uniform.**

**"Of course, Master." She said with that smooth, cultivated purr she had modulated as her voice, as she had grown up.**

**He ran a hand over her coal black hair that faded to gray at the ends. Her gold eyes were fixed on his dark blue ones. "You won't fail me, will you?"**

**Cinder Fall shuddered. The Master was not one to be gentle when he was angry. He handed her the package he wanted delivered.**

**"Good girl. Of course you won't. You know better." He said, comparing his two favorite girls.**

**Of the two, Dahlia has been his favorite. Her talents were innate and in great quantity. Her training with him was close and... extensive. And after all, she was his flesh and blood.**

**But she was off being a deviant.**

**Cinder was never so brave.**

**And technically since he had sold her years before, she wasn't his any longer.**

**"This will be your triumph, Cinder. A testament to me and your Mistress. The power that you will wield will shake Remnant and bring it to its knees before us." She simpered. "I owe it all to you, Master."**

**He smiled that dangerously gentle smile. "Of course you do."**

**She owed him everything. He had been wrong. She would always be his.**

**He, Omar Derivalle, owned her in heart and soul, if not body.**

**As he owned Remnant and all its secrets.**

**As he owned his true daughter, whom the world knew better as its most terrifying killer.**

**Faceless.**


	17. Chapter 17

Ironwood rode in style.

His massive transporters docked at Beacon, but I was surprised to see the squadrons of soldiers being brought as well at Atlas' trainees.

It gave me a bad feeling deep in my stomach and my team shared my sentiments. We were in a time of peace. Why such a show of military force?

Torchwick and the White Fang hardly seemed like the biggest threat out there and they'd be beat by complicated subterfuge, deeper than their own. These shows of strength only hid them further.

And there was Omar to consider.

I had seen the General vanish into the tower where Goodwitch and Oz stared down.

I felt a stab of jealousy towards Goodwitch for a moment but I ruthlessly suppressed it.

Oz felt nothing but camaraderie for the stiff blonde Huntress.

"Elin says come to the library. He needs help with a project." Peyton said, closing his Scroll.

I smiled at him. He always had two Scrolls on him. One he used for school and his baby, the one he had built himself. It was a technological masterpiece.

I had recently found out that my enormously physically powerful Peyton was a technology Semblance.

He was a master of machinery, which was not what anyone had suspected. I had found out after I caught him in Oobleck's class fixing the Professor's computer without using his hands. I hadn't told the others as a favor to the large boy. For some reason his skill embarrassed him.

Elin reacted the same when I finally caught him using his Semblance. It was curious to me how these wonderful people with such useful skills were embarrassed by them. Peyton could command technology with his thoughts and Elin was like a chameleon! He could blend into the background of anything as long as he didn't move. That's how he seemed to just appear out of places. His Semblance could be very useful for covert work.

I thought Peyton's was mightily handy. I knew enough about tech to get me through the class and survive as an assassin but beyond that, it was over my head.

I glanced at the tower, then back at the small fleet and the hundreds of soldiers that Ironwood had brought halfway across the continent.

That awful feeling didn't go away.

* * *

Elin's project, with four minds at work went relatively quick. Afterwards we watched team RWBY play Conquer. The idea the game was to take over Remnant. I didn't play because I always won and the game made me uncomfortable for obvious reasons.

Jaune and Pyrrha studied, Ren read a book, turning the pages onto Nora's head where she slept on the other half of the book.

Yang and Ruby were really into the game, going back and forth on turns. Yang though was clever and beat Ruby. Then during Weiss' turn, though she helped Weiss understand the game, Yang still destroyed her. It upset Weiss and Ruby with the surging emotions of triumph and devastation.

Blake's mind was elsewhere.

"Hey, can I play?" Jaune asked.

"Sorry Jaune, we've already got four people."

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess." Weiss said haughtily. Jaune's self-esteem dropped. I had forgotten his infatuation with Weiss.

"Uh, you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago." Yang pointed out. I giggled and Weiss shot me a look which I responded to with a raised eyebrow.

"Bring it on, ice queen! I'll have you know that I've been told I'm a natural born leader!" Jaune said, trying to equal Weiss' haughtiness. Which wasn't smart when you think about it.

"By who? Your mother?" Weiss asked sweetly venomous.

"And Pyrrha!" He said motioning to the sweet redhead. "Hello again." She said.

"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn." He begged.

That was also not smart. Weiss didn't take kindly to weakness. "I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!"

"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before!" I snorted. Weiss only trusted her team and me and Elise and maybe Pyrrha. "I mean, you told us all that Blake was secretly a Fau-" Pyrrha interrupted him by almost taking his face off. "Fun-loving person whom we all admired and respect!" She finished with a smile. "Heh, heh right... that. Ladies. Enjoy your battle." Jaune said embarrassed with a bow.

Good save but I wasn't stupid. I wasn't surprised that Weiss had told team JNPR.

"Sup losers." A bright voice said behind Blake.

I smiled happily. Sun had a big smile on his face and held up a peace sign in his left hand.

"Hey Sun." Ruby said.

"Ruby, Blake, Yang, Ice Queen..."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!" Weiss asked indignant.

"Mommy Quicksilver, Feistypants, Kink, Bumblefoot." He continued looking at my team. The boys blushed at their nicknames but smiled.

I rolled my eyes at the newest and most popular nickname yet. Elise loved her nickname.

"I never got to formally introduce you to my old friend." He said motioning to the by next to him. I recognized him as the boy who had gotten painted purple during the food fight.

He was a tan skin boy, about the same age as Sun, with dark blue eyes and shocking electric blue hair, shaved on the sides and in the back. He wore a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket with a wide, upturned black collar and a pair of gray jeans with black padding strapped to the sides. His jacket had a reticle on the back in silver. He wore black boots with straps rather than laces, black fingerless gloves and a pair of yellow-tinted goggles he wore on his forehead.

He was handsome but he was extremely self-conscious. I could feel him trying to remain cool in front of so many people.

"Uh... aren't libraries for reading?" He said confused, looking at the board game.

Ren was happy that someone understood. "Thank you!" He cried throwing his hands in the air.

"Pancakes!" Nora snorted and cried, waking up suddenly.

Sun turned to his friend. "Shut up. Don't be a nerd."

The friend put a finger up. "Gegegegegeh. Intellectual. Okay. Thank you."

He turned to face all of us. "I'm Neptune."

I nodded. "That's Mommy Quicksilver." Sun said pointing at me. "Who else would it be?" Neptune asked sarcastically.

"So Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss asked. I could feel her definite interest in him and I smirked.

"Haven... and I don't believe I've caught you name, Snow Angel." He said, super suave, coming around the table to stand next to Weiss.

Real smooth.

Jaune stared open mouthed. I already knew of his first attempt with that same name that went really badly for him. Weiss thought blushed. "Um... I'm Weiss."

Jaune looked to us for support. "Are you kidding me?!"

I shrugged. Emotions were hard.

"Pleasure to meet you."

Sun leaned over Blake. "I never took you as the board-game-playing type!" He said happily. Blake looked at him. "Right... well I think I'm done playing, actually. I'll see you guys later." She said getting up and leaving.

Sun wanted to stop her. I could feel it.

He looked at me. "Mommy." He whined.

I shrugged. "I'm not a miracle worker, man." Everyone looked at me. "Yes, you are." Elin said holding his project up.

"Dude. It's really weird to hear you call her Mommy." Neptune said to Sun.

"Everyone calls her Mommy." He looked at where Blake had disappeared.

"Strangely, they do call me that." I said forlornly.

Neptune cracked a smile. Sun felt confused and frustrated.

Everything went silent for a minute then Nora spoke up shrugging her shoulders her hands in the air. "Women."

* * *

Later, I was walking back to my room when I heard team RWBY talking. Weiss was curious and determined, Yang just curious, Ruby was worried and Blake was filled with an ineffable sadness and frustration.

I was an ex-assassin. I was not above eavesdropping.

"I just... don't understand how everyone can be so calm." Blake murmured.

Ruby knew. "You're still thinking about Torchwick?" She said sympathetic.

Ruby had come to me many times, berating herself for not catching the crook.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!" My baby sister vented.

She was really worked up over it.

I sighed inaudibly.

"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it."

_You are wrong there, my friend. No one has any idea what force we are up against._

"Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do." She cried, reaching her point.

_Ah, sweetheart no. Don't let them take you back in and especially don't drag your friends in._

_You mean nothing to Omar. He'll crush you like a bug beneath his boot without a second thought if you mess with his plans. You should know better. You should remember._

"Okay, between blowing up night clubs, stopping thieves and fighting for freedom. I'm sure the three of you think you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells..." She said sweetly.

Ruby didn't know what a 'ne'er-do-well' was.

"But let me once again be the voice of reason..." Weiss started. But even she was yearning to do something. "We're students. We're not ready this sort of situation."

"Well, yeah but-" Ruby tried to start. "We're not ready!" Weiss cried.

"And we may never be ready!" Blake interrupted angrily. "Our enemies aren't just gonna sit around and wait till graduation day! They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move and none of us know what it is! But it's coming, whether we're ready or not."

The four girls were catching hold on the idea.

I sighed again.

"Okay," Ruby said excitedly. "All in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses to single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye." She spoke very quickly and silently I threw my lot in with them.

They'd need me.

This plot when beyond Vale.

"Yes! I love it when you're feisty." Yang said at someone. The way her feelings moved it was probably Blake.

"Well, I suppose it could be fun." Weiss said, sounding reluctant but inside she was bursting with excitement. To finally be doing something!

"None of you said aye..." Ruby said dejectedly.

"Alright then... we're in this together." Blake said, a weight disappearing from her shoulders.

"Let's hatch a plan." Ruby said. "Yeah!" Yang seconded.

Ruby gasped. "I left my board game in the library." She said, but by that time I was already walking down the hallway towards my room. I had many things to begin planning.

"I'll be right back!" I heard Ruby call, taking off down the hall till she ran head long into some exchange students. I disappeared inside my room and locked the door.

I took a deep breath and steeled myself. I looked at the pile of packages in the corner. I'd need to give them out soon. If team RWBY was going to do this, they'd need to cling to whatever humanity they could get.

My eyes drifted to my bed.

Something was wrong.

There was something on my pillow that hadn't been there before. The moonlight shined down on the horror on my pillow.

It was a mask.

I approached it warily.

I checked every nook and cranny of the room and found nothing.

There was just the mask.

It filled me with such painful memories I couldn't stand up.

It wasn't anything special but at the same time it was totally alien. A smooth piece of matte grey metal. No discernable features, not eyes or mouth. Some slight curves gave the impression of a face. As if an artist had laid the foundations but had yet to render it in detail.

This wasn't just any mask.

It was my mask.

_So._

_They've found me._

I took the hated mask in my hands and hid it deep in my clothes chest. Then I sat on my bed staring at the moon, knowing that I'd never sleep in that room again.


	18. Chapter 18

The mask haunted me horribly every day. I didn't sleep, barely ate for fear that they'd catch me in my sleep or they'd poison my food somehow.

I worked constantly on the secret mission, keeping a record of everything I found, everything I knew. I had Peyton build me a new Scroll just for this under the pretense that my other one had a glitch. It was much more advanced than the one I had bought and even better, there was no tracker inside of it and it wasn't hooked up to the school.

I wanted so badly to call the old bastard and demand that he come to the school immediately to help me. He was the only one who knew the truth about Faceless outside the Family. I wanted him by my side desperately, both as a sword and a shield against those who had come for me. But I couldn't. He was a Huntsman, not a babysitter. I couldn't go run crying to someone else every time I got threatened. This was part of my life and I needed to face it on my own.

I examined the faces of everyone I saw, looking for Omar's children.

It was hard with all the exchange students.

I literally could not sleep. Every time I began to doze, I woke suddenly with a horrible crawly feeling under my skin.

There was a danger inside Beacon. One I could sense with every heartbeat.

It was a creeping taint within the walls of my Sanctuary, subtle and invisible.

I told no one of my feelings. It wouldn't do to scare them.

Instead, I gathered my friends in my room to give them their presents.

Elise, Peyton, and Elin were beyond excited. They had been patiently waiting for my surprise that I had been working on for weeks and weeks on end.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Velvet, and Sun caught their excitement.

"As you know, for the past month or so, I've been working on a secret surprise. Well, I've finished and I think now is a good time to give it. I have a feeling we'll need them in the near future." I said, sliding my eyes over the guilty feeling girls of team RWBY.

I began handing out the packages, making everyone wait till I had handed them all out.

I had a sense of anticipatory wariness. I had worked really hard on these.

"Okay... open them."

The sound of ripping paper filled the room and I held my breath.

"Oh... Oh my God." Blake said, running her hand over the cover.

Hers was dark purple with black patterns. It was a medium sized sketchbook. Something that wouldn't be a hassle to carry around in a pack.

Everyone's was a different color and I blushed. "Open up the cover, silly." I said and everyone opened it to the first page. My only sorrow was that I hadn't been able to watch Oz open his.

Inside on the first page was a large drawing of each person's personal emblem and their name in large graceful calligraphy.

As they began flipping through the sketch book, they saw how I saw them through my eyes.

Carefully detailed drawings filled the pages. Ren had a tear at the corner of his eye and I was touched. Sketches of each person talking, laughing, lots of them mid fight, of them dancing, of them crying, of each interaction between our close group of friends.

I drew them in their pajamas, in their battle attire, in their school uniforms, in their dance outfits. Posing and leaping, sleeping and hugging.

I had filled each book with that person.

It was how I would always remember them.

Blake really was crying as she saw each picture. Some of them were her as a child. Of her with and without her bow.

Elise had to cover her mouth to stifle her cries.

And the last few pictures of each book were drawings of me and the person. Elise had one of me and her walking together, my arm over her shoulder and her arm around my waist as we laughed. Of me and her fighting at the bar together. Of me and her sleeping curled together. And everyone had two pictures of all of us, sketched together, in battle stances and then how we normally look, hanging all over each other laughing and loving.

Sun had a picture of me and him posing together, back to back with our staffs at our sides grinning at each other. Of him forgetting about his own safety to help me stand at the dockyard.

Blake had a picture of me holding her when we first reconnected in the library the evening of initiation day. Of us fighting and laughing together.

Yang blushed at one of the picture I drew of her and I kissing outside of Raindance. I winked at her.

Velvet's lip quivered at a sketch of her and I hugging after I Healed her. Of me running my hand down her hair after I told her how brave she was.

I had a book in my lap too. This one was mine and I had filled it with all the pictures of me and my friends, detailed copies of the ones I had drawn in their books. Elin and Peyton were crying quietly. I didn't see a dry eye in the room.

I had two more to give. One to Penny and one to Daren. I had bought spares of the books for the other friends who I hoped would come into my life.

"I wanted to give you something special. To show you how much I love you guys and show you, how I see you through my eyes. You're the best things that ever happened to me." My voice wobbled.

Jaune stared at a wonderful picture I had drawn of him fighting the Ursa in the Forever Fall. He was fierce and brave, brandishing his sword, without fear in his eyes.

Nora gave a teary giggle at the picture of she and I making faces at each other. She had taught me that I didn't have to be serious all the time. That it was okay to let loose and be a child sometimes. And since I'd never had much of a childhood, her lessons and the times with her were something I treasured.

Ren's tears were silent and I saw a picture of him climbing up a shelf to retrieve a book for me both of us smiling as we talked about our extensive knowledge of books.

Everyone saw page after page after page of hand drawn love and beauty that I had captured with my art.

Sun used his tail to wipe his cheeks.

"How do you say thank you for something like this?" He asked. I smiled and opened myself to their emotions. It was a balm to my fear and loneliness. "You've already said it with something stronger than words."

Everyone knew what I meant, and spent many minutes more caressing each sketch with their eyes.

Even Weiss was moved by the elegant beauty I depicted her with. But she too had pictures of her yelling angrily and laughing loudly. I did portraits, full body, front, back, and side sketches, quarter turned, looking over the shoulder, sketches as if I was looking up at them from the ground or floating above them. Every angle, every pose I could call up.

I had done well.

The books were held tight to everyone's chests as they left, leaving me with nothing but hugs, kisses and their pure untarnished love.

That was better than any gift they could have given me.

But it also caused me so much pain.

Because anyone who loved me would be used to hurt me.

I had to do something I had never tried to do before.

I had to try and not worry. I had to believe that my friends were strong enough and skilled enough to survive against a man like Omar and his ilk. I had to trust them not to get killed.

It was incredibly hard.

And it made my need to keep Oz's relationship with me that much more a secret.

If Omar ever found out about my deep feelings for the Huntsman, his rage would equal nothing anyone except me has faced. Weapons did not have feelings. And this weapon was supposed to only feel love for him alone.

Loyalty only to him.

I sighed and opened my sketch novel. I flipped through all my friends to the pictures at the back. Drawings of me and Oz together.

I had taken such special care of these. Each detail of his handsome face perfectly correct, from the top of his tousled gray hair to his military stance when he stands in front of new students.

I captured the twinkle in his eye, and the sadness in his heart that melted away when I stood near.

Of us hugging, laughing, kissing and talking beneath the pale beech tree under the stars in our secret garden, telling each other secret we had never uttered to another.

_Gods above, I love that man._

But I feared rejection. I didn't want to take that step that would take us from the easy relationship we had, to the more serious one that it would become if I admitted how deep the river of my feelings ran.

I wanted him to love me. But I didn't want to hurt him. And I didn't want him to hurt me.

I looked at my friends who tucked their album under their pillows before falling asleep. I smiled and blew out the candle and spent the night staring into the darkness wondering at what strange beings humans must be to have such strong feelings and so few ways to act on them.


	19. Chapter 19

They were up to something.

The different outfits and hushed tones confirmed it.

These new battle costumes were similar in design to their normal battle attire but had interesting twists.

Ruby wore a long-sleeve light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the gray shirt was a cross between a corset and overalls in black and her skirt was red with a large black print of her Rose emblem on the side of it and the inside of the skirt is black. She still wore black stockings and her black-and-red boots. A metal shoulder plate was on her left shoulder arranged in a cog shape. Of course, she wore her red cape but she also wore a red scarf with the hood.

Weiss wore a pure white dress with black edging and two columns of four black buttons on her abdomen. On her back her snowflake emblem was pale blue, rather than white. The inside of her skirts contain layers of black frill much like Ruby's normal combat skirt and she wore white thigh high boots with frilly black thigh high stocking that come slightly above the top of her boots.

Blake wore a white V-neck zip up shirt that was black along the bottom and had mid-length sleeves. Her Belladonna emblem was printed in off-white on the left side of her shirt and black pants that had a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg held up with a black belt. Her belt had a black back skirt on it much like Yang's usual battle attire. On the underside of this is a thinner, longer, similarly shaped purple piece of almost mesh fabric. Her black high heel boots came halfway up her calves and had two belted straps across them. She still wore her black ribbons around her arms and her black bow. I recognized an outfit she and I had designed when we first designed her battle attire.

Yang wore a collared cream top over a black undershirt and over the top of the former was a half-length jacket style top with a raised collar, a strap the buckled across her collarbones and mid-length sleeves that were gold at the end. Around her neck was a pendant with a smooth, round purple gem set in a round piece of gold. She wore a pair of crooked black belts with gold accents across her round hips and a purple piece of lilac lace around the edges hangs from her left hip to the back of her knee with a dark gray miniskirt. It had vertical belted straps going down to her thigh-high black stockings which had her burning heart emblem printed in yellow on the outer side of each leg near the top and a row of four gold pyramid studs above each knee. Her big black boots had a series of belted straps on them and on the back of each boot at the top was a large white ribbon tied into a bow.

I was pleased with the transformation, even if it was only their clothes. I always disguised myself before going out.

It was a free day and the four had become six somehow. Sun and Neptune had joined in the fun.

I decided to take a trip as well.

Yang and Neptune were off on Bumblebee, Yang's bike. Weiss and Ruby headed for the CCT and Blake and Sun laid low in the library.

I set out to go visit a few of my contacts in Vale.

I was an ex-assassin. Emphasis on ex, but that didn't mean I never utilized the skills I had developed. Before going to Beacon, I spent weeks gaining credit and confidences. I visited them regularly to keep up-to-date on the happenings of the underworld.

Today they were full of information. Apparently, there was going to be a big presentation at the White Fang's meeting place tonight. According to a drunk Rat-Faunus, an associate of the White Fang had gotten his filthy hands on some new arms.

_That can't be good._

I had another outfit that I wore when I went out in public as Dallas Hartman.

I wore a long sleeve silk black tunic belted with a silver chain about my waist, black pants that had loose laces up the side of my legs, showing my skin up to my mid-thigh and a pair of low black boots that, unlike my usual pair, were not steel reinforced . And as the final touch, I wore a long black head scarf wrapped around my head and shoulders.

I couldn't have anyone blabbing about a tattooed girl with silver hair visiting Vale unaccompanied.

There was only one silver hair girl in the entirety of Vale and that was Dahlia Derivalle of Beacon Academy.

I used a plain wooden walking stick, with Orchid hidden in her sheathe on my back hidden by my new black cloak.

My informants greedily took my lein in exchange for what little they knew. It was incredible what the flash of money could do to minds. It made them remember things with remarkable speed.

I had learned how to do tricks with the heavy cards that were the currency of Remnant as a young assassin from Roman Torchwick. He had told me I was a natural. It was a neat trick that worked wonders.

It saddened me greatly to hear that Tuksen, the owner of Tuksen's book trade had been killed the first day back to school. He had been planning on running to Vacuo to escape the growing tensions within Vale.

I had liked the big burly Puma-Faunus. He had been kind to me when I first came to Vale. He had been a key member of the faction in the White Fang who hadn't conformed to the new order. I had suspicions that he had been the leader of the White Fang till Adam Taurus had taken power and turned the White Fang into what it was now. It was a suspicion only but one I had never gotten the chance to ask him. Now I never would.

He had been helping me spy on the White Fang since I told him of my need to know more.

He had a wonderful personality and he sung quite well when I could coax him to sing with me.

He used to hum while he worked.

But someone, probably one of Omar's children disguised as exchange students, had killed him the day he was supposed to leave for Vacuo.

I had a drink in his honor.

I spotted Penny across the street staring at a poster.

"Hello, Penny." I murmured walking up behind her. She jumped and took a moment to recognize me. I pretended to be asking directions.

"You're good at this." She said under her breathe.

I smirked. Of course, I was good.

"I have a gift for you." I continued, motioning towards my bag.

"I've never gotten a present." She said smiling.

"Friends give friends presents. Especially when that friend saves your life." I said pulling her sketch album out.

"Enjoy, sweetheart. Keep in touch, when you can." I whispered, brushing a kiss to her cheek.

"Thank you." She said, brushing her fingertips over the back of my hand and putting the precious package into her thin backpack, in the front sleeve, away from her folded blades.

I walked away from her and vanished down an alley that contained another informant. A snake-Faunus who worked a poison shop out of wherever he ended up.

He, being a nomad, picked up quite a few tidbits that he'd share for a price.

* * *

I left the poison seller, lighter of purse but with a few answers.

Torchwick had gotten his hands on an Atlesian Paladin, whatever that was.

There was a large crash about three blocks over and when I went to investigate, everyone was talking about a girl who stopped a Dust van with her bare hands to save another girl.

The only person I knew who could do that was Elise and perhaps Peyton if he really thought about it.

I slipped in and out of the conversation before moving on to my next contact.

Night was beginning to fall.

* * *

I was still frustratingly low on information as the evening grew deeper. All anyone knew of Torchwick and the White Fang was that there was going to be a big unveiling tonight.

Blake and Sun were already going for information so I stopped at the Dance to talk to Daren and give him his gift.

"I had no idea you were so fond of me." He said with a sly smirk when I gave him his album. "Don't make me hurt you."

We laughed together. "You really helped change things for me. You gave me back my dancing. This was the least I could do."

He kissed my cheek and then I began to turn him into a powerhouse of information.

With all his students came the gossip from the upper levels of society.

Only the best and those with enough money could pay to have Daren Glass teach them or their kids.

I tagged him as a priority informant and set him off on the trail for news.

Night came and I left the Dance, having succeeded in creating a new source of information and a good one at that.

Dancers are terrible gossipers.

I climbed to the top of the Dance and looked out at the busy streets. In the sky, the stars were veiled by a string of clouds that played peekaboo with the moon.

I wondered what team RWBY was up to when I heard a large crash at a warehouse district.

Then I heard yelling.

Ah, so Blake and Sun had been discovered.

The ground shook due to something. A crackling over my Scroll confirmed. Blake and Sun were in trouble and it wasn't pretty.

Sun was yelling incoherently in terror.

So I called in backup.

"Team DEEP. Emergency protocol at the Highway intersections in downtown Vale. Cover your faces. Come prepared to fight." I sent to my team.

"Roger that."

"Copy."

"On my way."

I tossed the wooden staff onto the rooftop and unclicked Orchid.

I leapt after the booming sounds and I pulled the black fabric that covered my head and shoulders up over my nose so only my eyes were showing. My Dallas Hartman outfit wasn't ideal to fight in but after unbuckling the silver chain, at least the entire outfit was black.

Pain shot through me, giving me energy to leap from the tops of buildings. I saw two figures running across rooftops toward the highway and got a glimpse of the enormous metal monster chasing them. Then they were followed by dozens upon dozens upon dozens of other shadowy figures.

"Aiya." I sighed before leaping after them. I didn't need to see the uniforms to recognize members of the White Fang.

_I hope the team is ready._

None of my teammates had ever really truly fought someone who was trying to kill them.

_Never too late to learn how to though_.

I chased them onto the highway, taking a few out one by one discreetly as we chased what I assumed was the Atlesian Paladin. An enormous battle suit that currently housed Torchwick, like a black heart in a body of cold steel. The symbol of the White Fang was spray painted in red on the massively armored arms.

It was chasing Sun and Blake and Yang sped by on her motorcycle with Neptune clinging to the seat for dear life.

Then behind me, three familiar shadows darted out.

"Team DEEP reporting." Elin said, standing on the hood of the car behind me. I picked through my brain for the Protocol I wanted.

The Protocol's they didn't teach you in Beacon. The ones I had been teaching my team.

"Protocol 331: Attack plan Nightstalker."

Peyton looked confused. "I don't think this is the right time for poker renditions of Keisha songs."

"No, she said 3-3-1." Elise said, drawing Serenity off her back. The massive blade shone in the dim light.

"Oh that one." He said, dropping into a battle stance and without another word he launched himself at the biggest Faunus he saw.

I blessed that Peyton had come so far. He held the guard up and used the punching effect of his blades to quickly take out the unsuspecting Faunus.

That's when the rest of the White Fang realized they were being chased.

The Hunter's had become the hunted by four shadows.

I had gotten my team's same armor attire in all black and they used the same head wrap that I did to hide their head and face.

I had to bolster Peyton as he made his first kill.

I had been honored when I made my first. Peyton was afraid and guilty. "Peyton. It's them or us." I said.

He understood and his protective instincts overwhelmed his guilt.

That was the message to my team. _Them or us_.

The paladin slipped over the edge of the middle highway and hit the ground on the lower highway. Now the streets were beginning to empty. Sun and Neptune who had been thrown at each other were nowhere to be seen.

Sun's Semblance had been impressive.

He had created two gold clones of himself which threw themselves at the Paladin and exploded on contact.

Weiss' icy road had sent the Paladin toppling.

Team RWBY faced the Paladin. Team DEEP faced the rest.

It was quite the battle. The pain didn't hurt, just fed me. I kept tabs on team RWBY but mostly I focused on my own team.

We were on the ground now, all the cars either had been knocked away by Torchwick or had driven away seeing the fight ensuing.

The odds were not in our favor but I had my team. And I had activated plan 331. Keep to the darkness for strikes. Together, as a team, like a well-oiled death machine that struck from the shadows.

We had worked together long enough to know what the teammates behind and beside you next move would be and how to augment it.

Elise and Peyton both had massive strength while Elin and I had deadly skill. We interchanged our fighting styles together.

Peyton knocked people in my whirling blades, Elin's flashing whips would yank a fighter off balance and Dust them up while Elise took the opening to drive her blade home. Then we'd switch. Not only that but I had taught both Elise and Peyton how to use their strength based weapons as shields to not only protect them but Elin and I as well.

My acrobatics would give me enough power to spin kick someone into Elise's sword attack and Peyton would use Elin, one going high and one low to destroy an opponent.

Elin and I had gotten stronger over the months and Elise and Peyton grew more flexible and acrobatic.

We were unstoppable.

"Yang!" Blake cried.

I whipped one of Orchids blades in nunchuck form through the knees of a White Fang member as Elise took off her head with a swing of her enormous blade.

Yang was punched through a support pillar.

"Peyton, Elise! Pin him!" I yelled and the two leapt to do my bidding.

They leapt with surprising speed to pin down the Paladin to the ice covered concrete.

I saw Yang struggle to stand, slowly absorbing the energy of the hits.

I flicked Orchid into a staff and leapt to land on the Paladin's 'chest' and began firing round after round.

I heard a creaking click and I just didn't move in time.

The rocket caught me square in my exposed chest, blasting me straight into the air.

The impact nearly knocked me unconscious.

My Aura kept the rocket from killing me but it got me good. Should have been expecting something like that.

A cry of pain tore from my lips as I flew high into the air.

"Grab her!" Elise cried as I began to plummet back towards the ice. There was a crack below me and large arms cradled me in the air.

Peyton had jumped so hard, it cracked the concrete beneath the ice.

We landed and I looked up as Torchwick backhanded Elise. Elin was prepared though and his right whip coiled around his sister's wrist. They swung and Elise locked her knees straight and slammed into the metal suit. It stumbled back and went to punch Elin but Yang put her hands out and stopped the fist not realizing that the punch was meant for the shadowy figure behind her.

One punch from her, destroyed the remaining arm of the suit.

That's when the rest of the White Fang decided to join us.

"I'm fine. Change to protocol 96, No quarter, no mercy." I gasped as my body Quick Healed my shattered rib cage.

My team went to work. The fighting was terrible. And when Ruby yelled Bumblebee, I yelled 'Hit the deck!' and my team dropped. Yang flew over top of us, hanging onto Gambol Shroud as Blake swung her around.

Then we were back up and fighting.

"Ice flower!" Ruby called and she twirled Crescent Rose's pointing the concrete, anchoring her and Weiss flared Myrtenaster as blue glyphs appeared before the sniper rifle.

Each shot turned into a compact bullet that created ice on the Paladin, holding it in place as Yang came around for another swing.

"Jump!" I yelled and my team leapt over the black ribbon.

Yang fired a shell from Ember Celica, becoming ring of fire and smashed a fist into the remaining metal, shattering it.

Torchwick rolled out of the debris and brushed off his coat. "Just got this thing cleaned." He muttered.

My team dispatched the last of the White Fang and I whispered "Vanish." And we melded back into the shadows behind Torchwick.

He looked at team RWBY, seeming to forget the second team which is as I hoped. We had accomplished my goal.

Yang fired a shot at him and I thought maybe it would hit, but a sweet young thing jumped in front of him with an open umbrella made of pink lace.

She was odd looking.

Her hair was half pink on the right side and half brown on the left with white streaks in the pink half, while her eyes were opposite, brown on the right while light pink on the left. She wore a white jacket with a pink interior that was a crop top in the front but hung to her knees in the back and brown pants. Under her jacket was a black corset, curved in the middle of the bottom, exposing her sides. I noticed the chain necklaces she wore around her neck and her button up high heels were white except the heel of her shoe was brown. On her hands were black gloves.

The umbrella dissipated the shot and she slowly put the umbrella over her shoulder.

"Ladies. Ice Queen. Always a pleasure. Neo? If you would." Torchwick said saluting to team RWBY. Neo began to bow.

I clicked Orchids second trigger and banged the staff against the ground without aiming.

Two flew wide but one buried itself in Torchwick's left shoulder.

Neo continued her bow.

Then they fled to a Bullhead with impossible speed.

All that was left behind was an illusion of the two crooks.

Yang ran forward, punching the illusion, which shattered under impact.

Torchwick was furious standing in the Bullhead flying away. His white coat was stained red. He searched for my face but never saw it.

"Back to Beacon. Now." I murmured before we all silently slipped away. Leaving team RWBY to wonder at all the bodies that they had not created.

* * *

Back at Beacon, everyone was pale, shaky and silent.

They had officially made their first kills.

The only real cure for it was whiskey which I gave them each two fingers worth.

"Take everything off and put it in here. Clothes, armor, even shoes. Weapons you clean now. I'll take care of the rest." I said, putting a bin down on the floor.

Everyone did as I asked and I tied some Healing strands into them. It was never easy doing this. Killing Grimm was one thing.

Killing Faunus? Killing Humans? People who had friends and family who would mourn them? It was very different.

All the blood stained items were in the bin and everyone was ordered to take a hot shower.

No one went to sleep after an assignment till you had washed all the blood from your skin.

I took the bloody bin to a secluded alcove far from the buildings and the gardens to a little stream that flowed forcefully.

It was there I began the hard thankless work of cleaning up. I had special herbs I used to lift the blood from the clothing and rough and soft clothes for the armor. The boots got a bit of both treatments.

I spent hours by that stream, cleaning myself and the clothing and the armor till there was nothing left to clean in the rush of cold stream water. Then I dressed in the night dress I had brought with me, set the basket of wet black clothing on my hip and began to walk back to the room, leaning on Orchid.

"Ms. Derivalle?" A high surprised voice called.

_Ah, damn it._

Glynda Goodwitch walked up to me, confusion and concern emanating from her. "What are you doing out so late?" She asked gently. She was dressed in her own nightclothes, in a long white nightgown. Even her hair was let down.

Glynda Goodwitch was as stern and sharp as her appearance. She was a middle aged woman with very light blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face and bright green eyes behind thin rectangular glasses. She usually wore teal hanging earrings with a small bead identical to her earrings on her collar in the middle of her throat. She wore a white long sleeved suit that exposes part of her chest with puffy sleeves that tighten near the wrists before filling out at her hands. Her lower body was clad in a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it and dark brown black stockings. She wore black boots with brown heels and her signature tattered cape that was purple on the inside and black on the outside, decorated by a row of diamond-shaped brown beads going horizontally across her cape. Above this was an emblem of a tiara- her personal symbol. And she was always holding a scroll. Her riding crop was stored in a sheath at the top of her right boot.

She usually looked like a stern school mistress.

Now, in her night clothes, her hair down and a cigarette dangling between the first two fingers of her right hand, she looked like a tired woman who couldn't sleep.

"Hello, Ms. Glynda." I said with a fake smile. I moved the bin higher up on my hip. "Couldn't sleep and decided to do some late night laundry.

She took a drag from her cigarette. "I see."

She sighed and I could feel weights pressing down on her. I set the basket down and put my hands on her shoulders. Her sharp green eyes looked into my dark blue ones.

I began to Heal her spirit. "You are doing your best. That's all you can do. Don't push too hard. We need you." I murmured, sealing up cracks and brushing away her nightmares.

She began to relax beneath my fingers.

"I had heard that you could... but I never thought that..." I smiled at her.

She was a strong woman who saw every student as like her own child. It was hard sending us off on dangerous missions knowing that she wasn't allowed to protect us.

She breathed deeply, letting me do my work.

"You're doing all you can and then some. Let some of us take the burden. We're strong enough to carry it."

I rubbed her upper arms a couple times before picking my basket back up.

"I can see why the Professor would take an interest in such a remarkable young lady." She murmured to me. "He speaks of you often with great fondness."

I stopped and looked at her.

I felt around her but she didn't mean what I thought she had.

Pain crippled my walk. "Yes, ma'am. The Professor has been a great help to me. I'm glad we have people like you to help us as we grow. We are still children. But as he said. It's not a role we'll have forever." I said before limping off, with my basket of death clothes.

_It's a role I never got to have, till I came here._

I didn't sleep that night. All I did was ease the pain of my team, glad that I was here to do so. They were all struck hard but even as they felt guilty, their resolve strengthened. It was them or us. And my team chose us.

They'd make good fighters, I thought, remembering how incredible we were as a team.

Now if only I could save them from themselves.


	20. Chapter 20

"So, you've been following this for how long?" Elise asked as we watched Pyrrha completely wreck team CRDL from the floor up. I was surprised when after team MMCY had pretty much destroyed the last opponent in the team match ups when Pyrrha had volunteered to take on team CRDL by herself.

She was masterful and even I would be a little nervous going up against her. Luckily, Pyrrha and I were very close.

There is no way she'd fight me, ordered or not.

"Only since the dockyard fight. But I've had contacts since I arrived in Vale. I like to know what's going on wherever I am." I murmured back to her, showing her some of my notes from the case file I was putting together. She admired the scroll Peyton had made me that I kept just for my unconventional work. I had a feeling Peyton would be in good business if he ever made his talents known. Elise was already planning to ask Peyton for one similar to mine.

Team DEEP had officially decided to join in the secret mission. I had taught them a few new Protocol's that we ensured no one else would ever find and I prayed we would never have to use.

I looked up as Pyrrha used the finish move I taught her.

It was difficult to pull off and you could only use it when you had a spear or staff weapon.

It involved slamming your opponent up in the air, which just happened to be Cardin, and hooking your staff under their chin, around their neck and flinging them over your shoulder into the ground. Cardin had a nice thick neck for this move.

She added in a secondary kick when Cardin hit the floor that finished him.

His team just laid down.

"And that's the match." Goodwitch said, coming onto the stage with her Scroll in hand.

"Lucky shot." Cardin gasped before falling back over.

I had to hide a smile. Pyrrha was something else. She hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Well done Ms. Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

Pyrrha demurred. "Thank you, Professor." She said sweetly. I winked at her when she caught my eye.

"Alright. Now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one last sparring match. Any volunteers... Ms. Belladonna?" She called softly, waking Blake from her light doze.

She looked dead. Bags hung under her eyes and she was pale and thin faced.

"You've been rather... docile for the past few classes, why don't you-"

"I'll do it." A bored voice said.

I turned and looked at the two exchange students.

The two I didn't like. Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.

Mercury was the one who had raised his hand. He was a well-built boy, pale with gray eyes and hair that was partially slicked and spiked back while unkempt at the front. His hair was gray, mine was silver and it was more blue than Daren's ash gray. There's a big difference.

He wore a gray and black two tone partial-zip jacket that covered his upper body and black pants with a thick gray stripe up the outsides of his legs. He wore a notched belt with a bandana draped over it and braces on his forearms.

His weapon were greaves that were similar in design to Yang's Ember Celica.

"Mercury, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent." Goodwitch said turning to her tablet.

"Actually. I wanna fight... her." He said pointing at Pyrrha after pretending to deliberate. "Me?"

I caught a feel of him and I felt an immediate need to break his limbs off.

"I'm afraid Ms. Nikos has just finished a match. I recommend you choose another opponent." Goodwitch had with ice in her voice.

I could feel her distaste for Mercury from where I sat. "No, it's fine!" Pyrrha said brightly. "I'd be happy to oblige." She finished nodded to Mercury who smirked.

I prayed Pyrrha killed the rat.

When he entered the stage, he swaggered on like he had all the time in the world his weapons clicking with every step he took. His shotgun boots would be interesting to see in action. He took his stance and attacked.

His style was more acrobatics than mine, limited by his weapon's placement.

Pyrrha knocked him on his butt and he quickly flipped to his feet.

He made a not-bad face and waited as Pyrrha attacked him.

The fight went on.

He actually did rather well against the formidable warrior.

But my eyes picked out some inconsistencies. He had been trained by someone other than Haven. I knew the style Haven taught. His was not theirs. It was one I recognized but I couldn't remember from where.

I glanced at Emerald, who sat looking innocently in the stands watching her friend. Everything about her seemed to whisper _trust me, trust me_.

It made me wonder what she was hiding.

Emerald was a thin girl with light brown skin and dark red eyes. Her hair was a strange light mint-green color, cut with a straight fringe and bangs as well as two long locks on each side in the back. They reminded me of antennas. On her hands were two bronze rings on her middle finger and she wore brown high heels. Her top was almost similar to mine, with a white over top trimmed with black that crossed over her collar bones into a high stiff collar that buckled underneath her breasts exposing an olive sleeveless crop top with a U ring between her small breasts. She had a three ring armband on her left arm and beads on her wrists. She wore white pants and brown chaps that ended at her calves and an overlong belt wrapped twice around her hips where she kept her weapons belted diagonally to her lower back.

She sat with a cool aloofness, even when confronted with Ruby's dazzling sweetness. Inside she was full of disdain.

Pyrrha got the upper hand then lost it when Mercury amazingly kicked her spear out of her hand, where it stabbed into the floor.

But his kick flew past her face and she was able to grab it again.

I studied him with an assassin's eye and began to wonder if I should kill him before he became a threat. Or maybe kill him since he already was one.

Pyrrha charged and Mercury didn't move.

"I forfeit." Pyrrha looked shocked and ran past him. "You... don't even want to try?" She asked incredulously.

He made an excuse about her being leagues above him but inside he was deeply satisfied.

"In that case, Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of the match, again. Next time you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent. He agreed vaguely and walked away with Emerald. "That's all for today. And remember the dance is this weekend but you all have your first mission on Monday! I will not accept any excuses." She said before dismissing us.

I walked up to her after class.

"Watch them closely, Ms. Goodwitch. They do not feel right." I whispered touching my chest indicating it was inside that they didn't feel right.

She nodded slightly and I asked a question about missions, my mind following the two exchange students who had given me cause for suspicion. Mercury Black's style was familiar but I couldn't place from where.

They didn't look or act like one of Omar's children. None of his children would been so bold in showing themselves to everyone. He always taught how to disappear into the background.

Especially since I would recognize one of his children.

But Mercury and Emerald did not belong here, that was for sure.

I left with my teammates whispering my warning for caution in their ears. I noticed the incredible subtle change in my friends.

_They'd make good assassins._

The thought startled me and I shook my head. They'd never be forced to do that. We were the protectors of the people.

I noticed Blake reading a gray notebook and knew from her feelings that she was reading her own case file. I had yet to share mine with team RWBY.

Sun felt excited and anticipatory as he called to Blake.

He got all shy inside. "So I hear there's this dance going on this weekend. Ah, pfft sounds pretty lame but you and me, I'm thinking not as lame, huh." He said smiling that sweet infectious smile.

Blake looked confused and sleepy. "What?"

"The dance! This weekend, do you wanna go or what?" He said.

Blake's eyes grew chilly and distant. Her feeling were muddled and angry.

"I don't have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that." She said, striding away from everyone.

Sun's feelings of rejection, failure and despair made me cringe.

I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulders. "Give her time, Sun. She'll come around." I murmured pulling the sad monkey boy into a warm hug.

He hugged me back, feeling better without my special gift. "Thanks, Mommy." He whispered in my ear.

He walked back to his team, tail hanging low and shoulders hunched still.

Ruby looked worried and felt a little angry at her teammate. I understood it.

Blake was being unnecessarily cruel to people because she was feeling bad. But that was no excuse.

I'm an expert on other people's feelings and there was no need to hurt Sun that way. He was only trying to make her happy.

It's not his fault she hadn't slept in ages nor was it anyone's fault that she hadn't come to me for some medication to help her sleep.

I wouldn't interfere though. Not yet at least.

But when I did, Blake would get the full force of interfering big sister.


	21. Chapter 21

I laughed as Elise came into the hall carrying two speakers, three times as tall as her and four times as wide.

"What's so funny?" She asked as Yang came in carrying one and Peyton carrying one.

I shook my head and continued my part of the decorating. I rolled tables out and set them exactly where Weiss told me.

Ruby sat at one looking dejected. Weiss walked over with two off white cards. "I need you to pick a table cloth." She said smiling at Ruby. Ruby startled out of thought looked at the cards.

"Aren't they both the same?" I rolled another table. Weiss sighed. "I don't even know why I asked." She came over to me and held them up. I randomly chose the one in her right hand.

"That's what I was thinking." She said walking off.

Yang, Elise and Peyton set their loads down and Elise flexed her arms for Peyton who did the same. He had biceps the size of her head.

"So have you picked out a dress yet?" Yang asked Ruby and I. I rolled my eyes. "Daren insisted on having his friend design me a dress. We aren't even going as dates, just as dance partners. Besides, it's Elise he really wants to go with." I said the last part in a whisper.

Ruby sighed. "What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake's not going?" I snorted.

"I do. It's going to be great." I said airily.

"And don't worry. She's going... Weiss! I thought we agreed, no doilies!" Yang cried looking at the snow girl. "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines." Weiss shot back getting in Yang's face.

I rolled my eyes when I felt Neptune and Sun coming.

"You're dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune said coming in first. "We were thinking about it." Weiss said, almost simpering. "That's pretty cool."

Sun smiled at us. "You ladies all excited for dress up?" He flicked his fingers at us.

Ruby snorted. "Yeah right."

Yang crossed her arms looking smug. "Laugh all you want, I'll be turning heads tomorrow night."

I raised an eyebrow at her and she winked.

I leaned a hip against Orchid. "What are you two wearing?"

"Pfft, uh, this?" Sun said motioning to his usual attire. Neptune was horrified and held up his hand. "Ignore him for he knows not what he says."

Sun knocked the hand in his face out of the way. "Hey, I may have moved to Mistral but I grew up in Vacuo. Not exactly a shirt and tie kind of place."

Yang gave him a look. "Yeah, we noticed." I stifled a laugh. Sun never wore a shirt much less a tie.

"You'll look nice. Neptune and I will make sure of it." I said and Sun blanched.

"So, what does Blake think of all this? Is she still being all, you know... Blake-y?" He asked making a face at the end. Weiss crossed her arms. "Obviously." Ruby sighed again. "I just can't think of a way to change her mind." Yang and I looked at each other.

"Guys. Trust me. Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." She said before walking away.

Secretly, I slid a laser pointer into her hand and the ointment I had cooked up. All Yang had to do was smear this on the palm of her glove and touch Blake with it. She'd be out for hours.

Because I'm a wonderful older sister.

"Have fun." I murmured before disappearing down another hall.

I had to go look over my own notes.

Tonight, I'd hit all my contacts one last time before I would get sent out on my first mission as a Huntress-in-training.

I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand and shifted to send a wave of pain up my leg.

I had to stay awake. Omar's children were still hunting.

* * *

A creak startled me awake.

It was nearly nightfall and the moon had risen into the sky.

_Oh no, I fell asleep_.

I sat up confused. My body must have shut down on me.

I sighed. This is what I get for not sleeping for so many weeks.

So what woke me up?

A hiss of metal against a sheath was all the warning I got.

A burning pain erupted in my back and in my heart.

I turned and blindly swung at my attacker with Orchid. They weren't fast enough and they were lifted off the ground.

They had left their knife plunged in my back, in my heart and it burned.

I immediately wrapped my legs around their arms, for he was rather large and I used my inner elbow to begin choking them.

It took me a long time but finally he stopped kicking. I eased back and pressed my fingers to his jugular.

He was dead.

I didn't recognize his face but I couldn't leave him here. So I stuffed the body into my clothes chest. I'd bury him later and I knew exactly where I would.

I couldn't reach the knife, so I threw a cloak over my shoulders and dashed out of the room.

None of my team were close, they were with team RWBY and team JNPR playing games in the library and I wasn't going to go ask for help with everyone watching. They'd all want to know how a knife had gotten in my heart.

It really hurt as my body tried to heal around the knife, but it kept cutting and it couldn't heal.

So I went to the only other person I trusted.

He was in his office when I requested entry.

It opened and he looked confused. "Ms. Derivalle? Can I help you with something?" He noticed my pain pinched face.

"Yes, Professor." I said faintly.

He ushered me in and clicked off his cameras. "Dahlia, what's wrong?" He asked worried.

"I need you to do something for me." I said softly, nearly fainting as my body tried again to heal itself.

I unclipped my cloak and it slithered off my shoulders. "Anything." He said as I turned around.

"I need you to pull this out." I said. He was silent and filled with alarm.

There was a dagger buried hilt deep in my back behind my heart.

"Pull it out, Oz." I said as he gripped the handle hesitantly.

"Pull it out now!" I yelled and he jerked his hand back. There was a tearing sound as the knife came free of my flesh and a new wave of pain rolled over me and then began to vanish.

He was holding the knife like one would a poisonous snake.

I waited till I healed all the way before turning around. "Thank you." I said holding my hand out for the dagger.

"Dahlia... what happened? How did… Who… what-" He asked handing it to me reluctantly.

"Nothing you need to worry about." I said wrapping it in my cloak.

I knew they had been waiting for me to sleep.

One assassination attempt, check. There would be more to come.

"Dahlia." Oz thundered.

I looked at him with a blank expression on my face.

"What. Happened." He said, looking like a true Headmaster.

I bowed my head so he wouldn't see the lie in my eyes. "An accident, sir. Some exchange students were horsing around and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." I mumbled.

He stared at me steadily. I felt guilty. I had never lied to him before and it killed me that I had.

"If you don't want to tell me, fine. But do not insult me by lying, Ms. Derivalle." He said coldly. It hurt him that I wouldn't trust him with the truth.

I wanted to go to him and soothe away the hurt but I couldn't bring myself to drag him into this dangerous situation.

I couldn't tell him that someone had tried to kill me. Not this close to the Vytal Festival.

"I mean no insult. I am just trying to protect you." I said as he turned away from me. His anger flared.

"I am a Huntsman! I do not need your protection! You are not Mommy Quicksilver to me!" He hissed.

I stiffened.

I would not be treated this way. "I apologize, Professor. It will not happen again." I said neutrally before turning with the cloak wrapped dagger under my left arm.

The doors began sliding closed behind me when I heard him call my name.

I didn't turn around. I pretended not to hear.

Whatever he had to say, I wasn't ready to hear it.

He knew of my need to take care of people I care for. He knew that it was deeply ingrained in me and I couldn't help but try to protect those I loved. How dare he insult that.

Yes, I shouldn't have lied. On that I was of one mind. It was stupid of me.

I should have just evaded like usual.

I sighed and leaned on Orchid.

I felt scared, exhausted and isolated. I couldn't sleep again. Too dangerous.

The assassin they had sent obviously was not prepared for the Quick Heal which meant he was not sent by Omar.

Omar would be furious with whichever of his children had sent the dead man.

I remembered my fear when I realized Torchwick wanted me alive.

I quickly went back for the body before my team came back and dragged it to the special garden. I buried him beneath the thick bushes, where no one would see the freshly disturbed soil.

Yes, Omar would be very angry.


	22. Chapter 22

**"Nowhere in my instructions did I say for any action to be taken against Dahlia. I want her alive." Omar said as he looked at Cinder, weeping and shaking with pain and shame.**

**She had been punished severely for the mistake. She had not ordered the attack but neither had she warned them not to attack her. So she paid the blood price and Omar had extracted every ounce of agony from her before he was satisfied.**

**He was magnificent in his fury. His dark blue eyes were hard like gemstones and his chiseled features had remain clear of any emotion, not showing any of the pleasure he had taken in breaking her body and spirit. She had failed him.**

**His face, so like that of his daughter, was one she loved and hated. She had power, yet how dare he hurt her like this. Then the part of her that had his brand on her soul cried out that she had disappointed the Master and she deserved to be punished.**

**His children learned the hard way to never disappoint their Father.**

**"Yes, Master. It will not happen again." She cried, crawling on her belly to kiss his polished black shoes.**

**He wrapped a hand in her long hair and she screamed as he pulled her up. "You cannot afford any mistakes, Cinder Fall. Control your children. Or I will. Next time, your Mistress will be told of your folly." He said before dropping her in a heap on the floor.**

**He walked to his desk and lit a cigar.**

**"Yes, Master. Thank you, Master. You are too generous." She groveled. Oh, how he disliked groveling. Dahlia had never groveled. "Get up. You have a lot of work to do. Go see the Healer." She got to her feet, the burn marks across her skin cracked and oozed blood.**

**She wiped her tears and slowly left, the shards of dark glass stuck in her feet clinking against the marble floor leaving behind a bloody trail.**

**As she left her eyes glowed with fire, evaporating what was left of her tears and as the fire spread, it cauterized the rest of her wounds.**

**Someone was going to pay for this.**


	23. Chapter 23

It was the night of the dance. Elise and I decided to devote the day to beauty. We leisurely washed ourselves, painted our nails to match our dresses and did all the things that normal girls did before a dance. Which was strange because neither Elise nor I were what you'd call 'normal'.

I was still stung by Oz's rebuttal and since I knew he'd be there tonight, I intended on looking stunning. Total girl logic.

These feelings in my chest were incredibly unfamiliar and I couldn't decide if I should follow them or not.

"So, is Daren going to be there tonight?" Elise asked innocently.

I gave her a wicked grin. "Of course. He may be my dance partner but I think he has another date in mind."

The little blonde girl blushed.

I pulled my hands through the length of her beautiful blonde hair.

It was straight or braided all the time so I decided we would curl it. I had no idea how to but we were going to.

"I love this smell." She said smelling her hair. I smirked. I must be a matchmaker.

Daren's favorite smell was strawberry so Elise smelled delicately of strawberries.

I took the long tresses of her hair, rolled them into the hair curlers and pinned them to her head. When they dried, hopefully, she'd have long lazy curls. She looked ridiculous though, with the curlers all over her head.

I'd never done makeup beyond disguise makeup so I called in backup in the form of Elin.

After a while of him carefully painting Elise's face he pulled back and admired his handiwork.

I almost didn't recognize my sweet, exuberant warrior.

She looked smoky and sexy with all the alluring sweetness of her big, doe-like eyes.

Elin had done something that gave her face beautiful definition, her lips her soft and pink, just waiting to be kissed but it was her eyes that would make men swoon.

Her eyes lashes were long and curled up like the petals of a flower and his work with the black eyeliner was both bold and subtle.

Tonight she would sparkle for my dancer friend.

I helped her into her dark sparkling gray dress that draped on her firm, curvy body enticingly, fit her high heels on and then began to unroll her curlers.

I was a genius.

With generous amounts of hairspray, which I had plenty of from my charcoal work, her curls were perfect.

Elin and I stood back and admired. "You're going to stun them tonight, sis." Elin said. Then he glanced outside and then at me in horror.

"Oh my God, we haven't even started on Dahlia!" I shrugged.

I'd look fine how I was but Elin was having none of it. He was almost offended by how indifferent I was. This was his thing. He loved makeup and dress up and Elise and I were his little dolls to play with.

I was ushered into the chair and the two siblings went to work.

Elise decided since the last time I had gone out my hair was curled, tonight she would straighten the wavy mass of silver.

Elin immediately began work on my face.

We had plenty of time before the dance when Elin finished. That boy worked well under pressure.

He applied his own subtle makeup to his face and then dressed in his suit. He cut quite the dashing figure. I was proud of him for going with Peyton despite his worries over what other people would think.

Peyton came in as Elise finished up the last of my hair.

He too was quite dashing but his was a very manly figure. He had his long brown hair tied back with a ribbon and he smiled tenderly at his boyfriend.

"Elise, Dahlia, you look wonderful." He said kissing Elin on the cheek. "You look beautiful, sweetheart." He whispered to Elin who blushed and smiled.

She gave my hair a light spray of hairspray but didn't do much else.

It just had to look nice when I walked in. Dancing would sufficiently muss it up.

She helped me into my custom dress and she squealed.

"Oh, Dally!" I blushed and continued putting my heels on.

The last things I slipped on were two thigh sheathes. One held three throwing knives on my right thigh and Orchid was collapsed on my left.

Elin had once again outdone himself as an artist.

He had accentuated the upward tilt of my eyes making me look exotic with little wings of black tipping the edges with smoky coloring only a little different than Elise's. My already defined face looked wide awake and fresh, for he had liberally covered my heavy bags and the red lipstick popped from my face. I looked sweet and yet, somehow very savage. Elin had captured the wild animal inside me and made her desirable.

My dress was blood red, with a tight bodice that utilized the significant curves of my body to play up my large chest with a sweetheart bust line. It had thin straps because strapless dresses and dancing don't work well together. Someone always ended up embarrassed.

My skirts were layers of flouncy red gauze that flew when I spun. I spun around and enjoyed the way it fanned around my legs and I thanked Daren for reminding me to wear black boy shorts to conceal my weapons. The red really brought out the heavy contrasts in my look. It made my eyes bluer than usual.

My hair fell like moonbeams around my shoulders and down my back. Straightened it was even longer than usual, reaching the down curve of my butt.

I smiled at myself saucily. I never knew silver and red looked so good together except for maybe the way fresh blood looked on steel.

Elise insisted on getting a group picture and we had Jaune take it for us.

"You guys look incredible." He said looking me and Elise up and down.

I hooked my arm around his left arm and Elise took his right arm and we dragged him stunned and happy down the hall with our lovebirds trailing excitedly.

* * *

We met Daren outside to fix my leg for the night and Jaune vanished before we could tell him to stay. He says Daren looks psychotic and that may be slightly true but Daren wasn't too crazy, though I think his floor polish could make anyone high.

He looked magnificent in a black suit and gray tie.

The rose though was not for me.

_Bless his heart._

"Elise, you smell incredible! The scent of strawberries on you is… delectable." He said when she came near. I grinned at his over the top compliment and Elise looked as if she would faint.

I caught Sun on the way in and expressed approval.

He wore most of his usual attire but he wore a dark, dark gray button down shirt with the collar flipped up and a white tie. Which didn't match the jeans or the red gauntlets but I was proud of him for trying.

His eyes grew wide and he eyed me appreciatively, his emotions feeding my pride a little.

He complained about the tie being a neck trap but stopped when Blake appeared. My blood-sib looked beautiful in a purple calf length dress with slits up the sides and black mesh covering her chest and shoulders. She had broken out a purple bow for the occasion. "I knew you'd look better in a tie." Was her comment.

Knowing I'd talk to her later, I vanished with Elise and Daren into the dance hall where Yang waited to check us in.

"God have mercy on every man in the room." She said as I strode in.

_No, just one man in particular._

She looked lovely in a short simple white gown with a full skirt and a halter top bodice with a low v-neckline.

I spotted Ruby trying to blend in with the shadows and I looked at Elise with caught my eye and followed it.

Ruby looked adorable in a short dark red dress with a corset type bodice in the front and black mesh covering her chest and over her shoulders, but still left them bare. Around her tiny waist was a black scarf.

She looked shaky in her black heels. Elise walked determined toward her.

"Ready, partner?" Daren asked me.

I nodded and lead me to the floor.

Thanks to his dance lessons, my three teams danced marvelously.

It was a simple waltz and Daren's eyes scanned the room. I had already done that out of habit. Everyone had a pretty good turn out and looked gorgeous.

Peyton and Elin danced together and it made my heart soar to see them so happy.

Weiss looked thrilled with her work in a white off white tea cup dress with that similar black mesh on her back and chest.

Yang was deeply satisfied to see Blake and claimed her first dance as Elise claimed Ruby's.

When it was over Weiss, Ruby and Yang stood near the punch talking happily as Blake laughed with Sun on the dance floor.

"This is quite the party, Quicksilver." Daren said whirling me gracefully through the dancers. I smiled. "Weiss and Yang's doing. They planned most of this."

Then I spotted the face I was to ignore tonight.

He looked heartbreakingly handsome.

Daren saw my face and followed my eyes. "Is that him?" I nodded. "Do you want to go dance with him?" I shook my head.

"Do you want to make him jealous?" He asked excitedly. There was nothing Daren liked more than drama. Elise would be a good grounder for him. And he for her.

I hesitated then nodded.

"Well then." He said spinning me and pressing me to his chest, his hand resting on my lower back.

Ruby was talking to him, looking pained and uncomfortable. She really didn't like dress up.

But whatever Oz said to her gave her a little joy in the moment.

She looked at everyone and I wished she could feel what I felt.

The room was filled with happiness. There was talking and laughing and friends and loves mingled in a way they normally couldn't.

Then Oz saw me and his feelings were painful. Sad and yearning and jealousy consumed him.

I'd have him begging by the end of the night.

I reflected again on these intense feelings and wondered where they came from. Never had I felt anything like it.

Then something whispered evilly down my back.

I turned and looked. Ah, Mercury and Emerald had arrived. Yang greeted them happily and an ugly sense of anticipation rose in them.

I shivered and ignored it.

There was nothing I could do tonight.

Not tonight at least.

* * *

I nodded to Yang when I was ready and she nodded to the DJ. I smiled at Daren who clasped my hand.

Everyone who knew the queue began to usher people away from Daren and I.

We began the dance and I fed on the energies around me. My skirts did exactly as I wanted and flared around me.

Others danced around us, but even the dancers watched with rapt attention as Daren's feet and mine flew in complicated movements.

My hips moved incredibly fast and my arms intertwined and circled then crossed as Daren and I continued.

I felt beautiful and admired.

My hair fanned around as I spun and shimmied.

There was a cheer as Daren flung me around his body and then dropped me into a split.

I laughed as Daren tossed me in the air and caught me dropping me into another split before pulling me back up.

He slid me between his legs as I bent backwards, almost like limbo and I rose on the other side grinning mischievously at Yang.

I turned back to my partner and he clasped my hand and pressed me tightly to his body and it looked very intimate.

When the song ended I was smiling and there was a light in Daren's eyes. This was what he loved.

But when I saw Mercury and Emerald, there was hunger in Mercury and jealousy in Emerald.

I hid a smirk.

Then I handed Daren to Elise.

As I flounced away, I felt Oz's raw desire and jealousy. He was good at hiding it though as he stood with Glynda.

A ballroom dance song came on and I had a line of would-be partners.

I saw the General swagger up and tap the blonde woman on the shoulder.

She looked long suffered but inside she was happy to be asked to dance.

She took his hand and was led onto the floor.

Ruby and Jaune hid together at the punch bowl. Which confused me.

Wasn't Jaune supposed to be Pyrrha's date?

I saw my red haired friend enter late, looking exquisite in a plain maroon floor length with a high halter neckline and a long slit up her right leg. She still wore her head piece but I doubt she ever took it off.

She moved quietly through the throng of people towards the stairs of the balcony. My confusion grew.

I saw Weiss fiddling with some flowers that weren't doing what she wanted. So I went over plucked out the offending flower and tucked it in her hair. The white rose looked perfect there. "See? Problem solved. Now I think you owe me a dance." I said taking her hand and leading her out onto the dance floor.

She had fun dancing with me but it was clear that I was not the partner she wanted.

He was standing with Sun and Blake laughing.

When the song ended she deferred another dance, claiming I had worn her out, which I had, and went and sat down.

Jaune had vanished somewhere and a good not so clean dance song came on. Yang and I grinned at each other and showed everyone how to dance like you mean it.

It's hard to believe that that was the first dance I'd ever been too outside a club.

Assassins didn't go to formal dances except to kill a target.

Once it was over I saw Pyrrha coming down the steps feeling wounded. "Pyrrha!" I called. Her head came up and she smiled at me. "Come dance with me!" I said grabbing her hand and pulling her onto the dance floor. She tried to resist but I was a little enthusiastic.

I was actually having fun.

I spotted Penny between two guards and smiled as I pulled her away to dance too. They tried to stop me but I just smiled and said I would take special care of her.

General Ironwood looked none too happy with me but I didn't care. Penny deserved to dance with her friends.

She looked cute in a flouncy light green dress and she was thrilled to be able to dance.

Even Pyrrha felt better for dancing with me.

She was a great dancer but she had to think about it. I wasn't sure what Penny was doing but I danced with her anyway. She had her own style.

The best part was when we did the robot and Ruby laughed.

I saw the sisters up on the second floor leaning over the banister. I waved and laughed happily.

The guards had to come to Penny so I made them dance too.

Nora was actually calmly dancing with Ren who felt a glow of contentment.

I spotted Neptune sitting and talking with Weiss and she radiated happiness.

This was better than I thought it would be.

I heard the opposite end of the room erupt in laughter. I turned to see what it was and was shocked to find Jaune walking towards Pyrrha, Penny (and Penny's guards) and I... in a dress.

It was a pretty dress admittedly. Strapless, white with a purple ribbon tied in a bow at his waist. It looked wrong to see his broad shoulders and newly defined muscular arms and a dress with his black sneakers.

"A promise is a promise." He said half smiling at Pyrrha.

It started out slow but Pyrrha suddenly broke into uncontrollable laughter. I wondered what he meant but giggled. "You look beautiful, Jaune." He winked at me.

"Jaune, you didn't have to." Pyrrha said between laughs. "Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word." He said confidently.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "You're wonderful for her." I murmured in his ear. "Now do you want to stand there and laugh at me or do you wanna dance?" He said offering Pyrrha a hand. She took too long with her speechlessness to take it so I shoved her into him. "I would love to dance." She said and they were off.

Nora came roaring up with a frightened Daren in tow in a short pink dress with a darker pink heart bodice. "Get ready, you have to watch okay?! Ren! This. Is. Happening!" She yelled at the boy sipping punch.

It must have been a code, because he set his cup down and team JNPR came together on the dance floor.

Daren and I looked at each other then back at the four people, three in dresses and one in his suit.

And then they broke into synchronized choreography.

I laughed and gave a thumbs up while Daren watched with a teacher's eye.

If there was one thing to say, it was they were completely in synch.

It was great.

_Good job Jaune, you almost did something cool... and then you're in a dress._

Jaune, again, was an amazing dancer. Pyrrha was thrilled. "Yeah, these things tend to happen when you grow up with seven sisters." He said, dipping Pyrrha over confidently.

"Not bad, not bad." Daren said before being swept off with Elise.

I was alone for the first time that night. I watched Penny and the guard in red and gray armor dance together and I smiled warmly at the guard as he and Penny did the robot again together.

"Well, that was unexpected." A voice said coming up behind me.

I barely glanced. "Yes. But unexpectedly wonderful." I replied coolly.

"You know, Ozpin here used to be quite the dancer in his day." General Ironwood said coming up next to me.

I smiled. "I had no idea." I said looking at Oz out of the corner of my eye.

"James, this is Dahlia Derivalle, one of my best students. Ms. Derivalle, this is General James Ironwood." I held my hand out for the ritual kiss to be bestowed.

I still didn't understand the custom but I had come to accept it. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, General." I said warmly.

"What a beautiful young lady." He replied, not letting go of my hand.

Possessiveness flared in Oz and I smiled demurely.

"You flatter me."

The General's smile was kind but there was an uncomfortable fire in his eyes. "I see you have become friends with Penny." He said off handed.

My smile was warm and caring. "She is a dear friend and a wonderful girl. I'm glad she could come tonight. It wouldn't be the same without her... interesting dance style." I said motioning to the happy girl.

He nodded slightly.

"I'm glad she could come as well."

Oz came a little closer to me and I could feel the heat of his body against my back.

"I've heard that you have trouble walking and use a walking staff. How is it that you can dance so?" He asked, again with that tone. This was meaningless information so I didn't mind giving it to him but I knew he would ask a sensitive question in that same tone to take me off guard.

"My dance partner can ease the pain of a wound for a short amount of time. He cannot heal wounds like I can but he can take the pain away so that I can dance."

The General looked fascinated. "If he can do that, why not have him do it all the time?"

I smiled but this smile was not kind nor gentle. "I use my pain, sir. It's what makes me such a powerful opponent. Pain is nothing but untapped energy to me."

Oz shifted and I used a little strand of healing to relax him. It would do very badly for him to attack the General for being nosy.

"Truly? I would enjoy a match between you and my best student." He said. He motioned to a large boy, who easily matched Peyton for bulk but was a few inches shorter. He moved with grace and I eyed him. "I think we could arrange that sir."

He smiled. "Ozpin, you need to tell me where you find these incredible women for your school." I blushed.

It was pretty easy to distinguish the student's from his Academy.

"Ah, James, I'm sorry to say but you'll never find one like Ms. Dahlia." Oz replied.

"Then I'll just have to steal her from y-"

There was a fight on the dance floor.

"Dahlia! It's Elin!" Elise screamed.

Daren bravely was holding her back.

I went cold.

I didn't hesitate. My strides were long and powerful and even the crowd who had gathered around the fight parted before me. None wanted to be the idiot who got in my way.

It was actually the General's best student and his team. Peyton was unconscious on the floor and three of them had Elin pinned while the fourth punched him in the gut.

Since Daren had relieved the pain in my leg, I had little choice. I grabbed the pinky of my left hand, gritted my teeth and yanked it sideways, breaking it cleanly. Pain course through my body, transforming into glorious energy with my rage.

My eyes narrowed and I slung myself into action. They weren't expecting it so they had no time to defend.

I hooked my arm around the fourth boy's neck and rolled mid-air to slam him onto the floor.

I didn't pull Orchid. This I'd do with my two bare hands.

I whirled and kicked and flipped and punched, cracking heads and ribs as I went till finally the four of them just laid on the floor. They weren't too injured. I kept tabs on them and Healed their broken bones as I gave them. They were just too afraid to get back up.

They didn't get a hit in on me and I looked like I had merely done an intense dance routine.

I put my foot on the leader's neck, General Ironwood's best student.

"If you ever cause my team any physical, mental or emotional distress again, I'll skin you alive and feed your corpse to the crows." I whispered to the terrified boy.

I took my foot off his neck and snapped my fingers. Four big guys from Beacon came to carry the offending boys from the hall.

Elin was moaning. "I didn't touch him." Over and over again. I shushed him and began to heal him. "No, Heal Peyton. He tried to defend me but there was four of them. He didn't want to hurt them. He just wanted them to leave me alone." He whispered.

I shushed him again and when I was done, he looked no worse for wear. The crowd didn't disperse. They watched as I Healed Peyton as well. He woke up looking for the four guys who had already been removed. He calmed only when he learned that they had come face to face with me.

The dance started again but now I could feel people's wariness of me. I walked back to the two Headmasters. "I apologize for leaving so abruptly." I said calmly running a hand through my hair. "It looks like you got your match-up, General."

The General's mouth opened and closed but he could find no words. He was shocked. I hadn't been kidding about the pain to energy thing. He looked at my now healed pinky.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'm done for the night." I said before turning to walk away.

"Wait!" Oz, said grabbing my arm.

I turned around eyes blazing. he took his hand off my arm immediately and held it out. "Could I have this dance? Just one more." He said gently.

I felt his hope of mending our relationship and fear of rejection.

I sighed. "Just one more." I said taking his proffered hand. "Actually, may I have the dance after?" The General asked as we walked. I sighed again smiling and nodded in agreement.

That meant Oz would want one more.

So one dance turned into three.

I spotted Neptune on the floor, doing his own thing. Much like Penny had done her own thing.

It was a fast waltz and talked as we did. We kept the proper distance from each other but inside we were all tangled up. He really was quite the dancer.

"You look... I can't even find a word for you tonight." He murmured. I looked at him, still unhappy.

He sighed. "I'm sorry for what I said, back in my office. It was just truly terrifying to see a knife sticking out of your back. And I don't like being lied to." He said. twirling me.

"I shouldn't have lied. For that I am sorry. I'm just trying to keep everyone safe." I whispered back.

He waited expectantly. Inwardly I sighed.

_No lies, Dahlia._

"It was an assassination attempt. A miserable one at that. He made noise that woke me up from my unintended nap." I said.

I shook my head. _Sloppy, sloppy work._

"Who wants you dead, moonflower?"

I smiled, happy to hear him call me by his affectionate nicknames again. It eased something inside both of us.

"That is the question, my darling. Who?" I asked. I knew it wasn't Omar. So was it someone eliminating a risky player?

So many unanswered questions.

The song ended. "I get your last dance, Ms. Derivalle." He said handing me off to the General.

He was a big man, who dwarfed me but I felt much bigger than him. "M'lady." He said bowing. I curtseyed and he clasped my hand, placing one large hand on my left hip.

"You truly are the star of the evening, Ms. Derivalle." He said, spinning me gracefully.

"Dahlia, please. You possess a silver tongue, General." I replied smiling.

Oz's jealousy reached me and I looked at him.

"Please, call me James." He said smiling. He had a bandage over his right eye. "So informal, James." I said. "Would you like me to Heal that for you?" I said nodding at his bandage.

"I had heard that you had remarkable Healing capabilities." He said but he declined my offer.

"You seemed to have heard quite a bit about me, James." I said raising an eyebrow. "It's hard not to hear about someone as remarkable as you." He said suavely. "Obviously, you did not warn your students of anything." I said cuttingly. He winced.

"As I should have. You show incredible leadership and your threat to Edmund will be noted. He will not be so foolish again."

I smiled that icy smile. "I should hope so. I do not make idle threats."

His smile faltered for a moment as he realized I was completely serious and we danced around the room.

He, unlike most, felt the danger I presented. But instead of being afraid, he was intensely interested. His hunger was noted.

"Perhaps we could meet again and talk more. You are a fascinating creature, Dahlia." He said as the song ended.

He bowed and kissed my hand. "Perhaps we could do that James."

I would have to be very careful with this man but I could not ignore the opportunity he presented.

Such secrets he must be privy to.

I motioned to Oz but to our amusement, a slow waltz began to play.

"Oz, you shouldn't be so jealous." I said as he came up to me, even if I secretly enjoyed his possessiveness.

"I cannot help it, darling. Every man in the room is jealous of me right now. We are jealous of whoever gets to bask in your attention and gets to touch you even if only for a dance."

And I called Ironwood silver-tongued.

"Besides. it doesn't take a mind reader, nor an empath to read the General's interest in you. He is my friend. But I'll kill him if he moves in on what is mine." He said, another surge of possessiveness.

"Am I yours?" I asked.

"You are, aren't you?" He shot back, spinning me slowly.

"Of course, but it's nice to hear you say it." He smiled.

"You are mine, Dahlia. As I am yours." He said, still keeping his distance but again, inside we wound ourselves tighter to each other.

It was interesting. Omar's possessiveness had made me feel chained and oppressed. Oz's made me feel wanted and cared for.

Maybe it was Omar didn't want to give anything back to me. He just wanted to own me.

Oz wanted to give me everything, so that while he was protecting and caring for me he also finds himself protected and cared for.

I wanted to kiss him so much it hurt but I had to remember that our relationship was a secret. Besides, there were eyes in the room, watching me.

"Come to my room tonight." He said. "Come in your secret way." He murmured.

I blushed.

The song ended and I was forced to let go of his hand and I missed the warmth of his other hand on my hip. He drifted back over to the punch where he and James Ironwood became deeply engrossed in conversation.

The party was beginning to wind down. I looked at the clock and it was almost midnight.

The General left with Oz following him slowly. Somewhere in the room there was a flare of annoyance and concern but I couldn't figure out where it came from.

I looked around and saw Elise and Daren slowly swaying together, foreheads touching.

Elin and Peyton danced together in spite of the attack and everyone guarded them, daring for someone to try it again.

Blake and Sun were still dancing, Jaune and Pyrrha had gone for something to drink, Jaune still in his dress.

I was absurdly proud of him for keeping his word.

I was told that he had said, if no one asked Pyrrha to the dance that he'd wear a dress.

And so he did.

I didn't see Ruby anywhere.

I decided I had waited long enough and I turned and walked out the door, and headed for my room before swinging towards the massive clockwork tower.

I changed into a short black night dress with my charcoal colored sleep robe and I wiped the makeup off my face. I packed a small bag with toothbrush, an extra pair of low soft boots and clothes in it for tomorrow.

I left a note saying that I wouldn't be back that night for my team and then set out barefoot for Oz's room.

Outside the tower, I looked around before jumping up. I caught the edge of a stone and began the treacherous climb up.

Another skill of an assassin. I could climb basically anything, one way or another.

My fingers and toes ached but I continued to climb, utilizing every nook and cranny I could fit my appendages into keep climbing. I didn't look down.

I was high enough that a fall from the tower would be hard for my body to bounce back from.

It would do it. It'd just be hard. Not only that but how would I explain it to whoever found me? _Well, don't fall and we won't have to find out_, I told myself.

Up I continued climbing, shivering as the wind blew across me. My leg began to ache.

It took guts to get up this high. So I just looked up and kept going.

It was a relief to reach the big windows around his office. There was a thin concrete ledge, only maybe a foot wide but it was enough.

Only when my feet were firmly planted on the concrete did I look down.

I gulped imagining me, like a tiny spider climbing up a seemingly flat wall.

Thankfully, I didn't have to disarm his security system again. I just pried off one edge of the floor to ceiling window and slipped inside, pulling the window back and shifting it back into its frame before turning to observe his dark office.

The enter room was a circle and all the walls were thick circular windows, paned with ornate clockwork like fixtures. To the left, if one was sitting by the desk were the complicated mechanics that powered the clock. The enormous clock that was the wall behind his desk was the giant clock that commanded the students and teachers of Beacon. Yet when I had first broken into the office, I had no idea where his personal room was. Where did the man sleep?

I had found it by snooping around and finding the lever in the bookshelf near a seemingly empty part of his room.

The staircase that the gears above us wheeled down led to a room above the office. Cleverly hidden with the cogs and the use of mirrors. When one looked up in the office, it looked as if one was looking up at the sky through the cogs. In reality, there was another room above the office that was Ozpin's bedroom.

It was amazing.

It wasn't a big room but it made up for it by being entirely made of dust infused glass. It was one way so that you could see out but no one flying overhead could see in.

The ceiling became the point of the tower and there was a bed with a canopy, a bookshelf, a lamp, a nightstand, a ugly but comfortable chair, a small closed room that I figured out was a bathroom and shower, a very basic kitchenette and a few special memorabilia around the different surfaces; awards and pictures and such. The Beacon Crest was printed across his bed cover though I knew his personal emblem was a series of interconnecting cogs and wheels.

I didn't light the lamp as the moon provided plenty of light and looked around. I set my bag down near the bed and I walked to the middle of his room.

His big bed was neatly made with the canopy pulled back to see the sky and on his night stand was a special book. I smiled.

It was his album from me.

I set the lamp down and picked up the book. Its spine showed the constant use. He looked at it often.

I looked up at his enormous glass ceiling through which you could see the entire night sky and all the stars that twinkled overhead.

Looking up, I felt the weight of all my weeks not sleeping. Surrounded by the smell of Oz, I felt safe and sleepy. No one knew where I was. For the moment I was safe.

I would wait till he got back though.

I spotted his coffeemaker in the little kitchenette. I knew he drank the tea I had given him the first night I met him to sleep. I had supplied it for him since them. I knew how he took his tea so I stood, swaying and made him a cup.

Since I didn't know when he would be back I put the cup in the hot sleeve to keep it warm.

_It wouldn't hurt to lay down._

I slid my over robe off and tossed it over the chair.

His bed was amazingly comfortable. It was like sleeping on a firm cloud. I laid down and shivered.

_He wouldn't mind if I pulled the covers over me._

His thick black comforter was warm and smelled of him.

_I'll just close my eyes for a second._

In moments, I was blessedly asleep.


	24. Chapter 24

**Oz slowly entered his office and looked around. She wasn't in there. **_**Where could she be? Did she not come?**_

**He grew worried for a moment that she hadn't come till he realized that she of all people knew where his bedroom was. And that's where she would have gone. She wouldn't have waited for him in his** _**office.**_

**He pulled the lever and watched the staircase spiral down and he walked up them expecting her to be sitting somewhere waiting for him with that sweet smile on her face and forgiveness in her heart.**

**He didn't see her at first.**

**He looked around and noted the robe that was not his, thrown over his reading chair. There was no one in the bathroom.**

**He saw Orchid resting on the wall near his nightstand. Her gift to him was open.**

**Then he noticed the little lump, tucked under the covers.**

**He didn't have the heart to wake her up. He walked over and saw her sleeping face and smiled.**

**She looked so innocent in sleep.**

**Not like she did at the dance.**

**He remembered first getting a glimpse of her on the arm of the lithe handsome man who had accompanied her.**

**He had been more than ready to apologize but he couldn't figure out how to get close enough to talk to her.**

**She looked incredible, more than stunning, a vision in blood red. Her hair was straight and true as moonshine and her eyes held a sparkle that lit every corner of the room.**

**And when she danced, he felt like he couldn't breathe. There was no eye that hadn't looked at her as she spun and shook during that first memorable dance.**

**He saw the happiness in her when she looked at her dance partner, how tight she was pressed against him and he had to try and tap down on his jealousy.**

**He couldn't let anyone know about the special relationship he had with her.**

**So he had born with his jealousy and his tenderness as he watched her lift everyone's spirits. No one could resist her excitement and joy.**

**Not surprisingly, she had charmed James Ironwood.**

**Which Ozpin did not like one bit.**

**He didn't want to share her and would not share her especially with the General who had basically invaded his kingdom and more importantly was his friend.**

**He went to make himself his nightly cup of tea and was pleasantly surprised to see that she had already made him one.**

**He sat in his chair and sipped his tea, looking through her artwork.**

**When the cup was empty he changed into his pajamas and climbed into the massive bed, not pulling the canopy over to block out the light. Tonight he wanted to see the stars. Especially the one who had fallen into his bed.**

**He knew he should sleep on the floor. Proprietary required so but the opportunity was too great.**

**As he did, she woke up a little.**

**"Oz?" He leaned over and kissed her gently. "Hello, sleepy." Her eyes were half closed. "Is it morning?" He shook his head. "Good." She mumbled.**

**"Don't you want to go back to your room to sleep?" He asked. "No, but I will if you want me to." She replied, trying to sit up.**

**"I don't mind if you'd like to sleep here." She smiled sleepily and slumped back down.**

**"Why don't you want to go back though?" He asked her before she could fall asleep again.**

**"Because I won't sleep in my room. And I don't want to spend another night awake. I'm tired Oz, my love. I'm so tired. I can't tell you the last time I slept. Oh wait, yes I can. I got stabbed in the back through my heart the last time." She groaned.**

**He slid down under the covers and was filled with joy when she cuddled up with him. "I feel safe with you. I think I can sleep."**

**He wrapped his arms around her delicate body, enjoying her warmth in his normally cold bed. "Then sleep, Dahlia. You're safe here." He murmured and she tucked her head under his chin against his shoulder.**

**She mumbled something before saying a quietly "I love you." and falling into oblivion.**

**Oz smiled into the moonlight filled darkness of his room. He glimpsed the stars that somehow seemed brighter. "I love you too."**

**He whispered, listening to her breath slowly and counting each beat of her heart.**

**He closed his eyes content to sleep with the beautiful girl with hair like starlight and eyes like the deep sea, who charmed and dazzled everyone she met.**

**So this is what love feels like, he thought, happy to finally know.**


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning, I woke in an unfamiliar place.

I was warm and comfortable and for once I was well rested. I didn't move but I slowly became aware of my surroundings.

_Ah, now I remember._

I felt the warm body curled around mine and the steady heartbeat of the man whose bed I had fallen asleep in.

I didn't remember him coming in but it was the first night I had truly slept in weeks.

His firm, muscular body was curled around mine protectively and I enjoyed the feeling of his breath on the back of my neck.

"I know you're awake, so don't pretend you aren't." An amused voice said in my ear.

"No, I'm definitely still asleep." I said turning to face him with a sleepy smile on my face.

He propped his head up on his hand and looked down at me smiling like an idiot.

"And for once it's a good dream." I murmured as he bent his head down for a chaste kiss.

"Me too." He said, wrapping his other arm around my waist and pulling me close.

"I meant to stay awake and talk to you, but I made the mistake on laying down." I said laughing a little. "I don't mind. You made me tea so I guess we're even." I smiled. "I figured you'd like some when you came back. I know exactly how you like it."

He was so warm and comfortable.

"And that's one of the many things I love about you." He said, brushing his nose against mine.

My eyes flew open. Love?

"Did I say something wrong?" He asked worriedly.

Then I remembered what he said so long ago about never having done this before, so he didn't know that springing it on a girl would leave her speechless.

"No... no I just didn't... know..."

His sober brown eyes stared into mine and seemed to pick the feelings right out of my soul. "Do you not remember last night?" I shook my head slowly.

"Why is it that every time I tell you something important, I'm so tired that I can't remember it?"

He laughed, the sound warming me. "Well, I suppose that is true. Last night though you said something very special." He whispered. I blushed. My whole face blushed. I'm pretty sure my eyelids blushed.

"Say it again for me." He murmured, brushing his fingertips over my cheek.

I-I..." I laughed at my own stupidity.

"I love you, Oz." He smiled. His emotions were indescribable. They were the most intoxicating substance, more heady than liquor.

"And I love you, Dahlia."

I kissed him. "I like the sound of that."

I traced a pattern on his neck. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle sensation of my fingertips on his skin.

"I'm glad we got that out in the open. It now feels less like I'm trying to hold a hurricane in my chest." He murmured softly.

"Our hearts are wild animals, Oz. That's why our ribs are called cages."

His Scroll beeped. Then mine beeped.

"Ugh." He said rolling over to grab his spectacles and our Scrolls.

Mine was just Elise asking if I was okay.

I quickly typed back a message that I was fine and would be back later.

"We have to get up, don't we?" I asked, stretching. For a moment, he forgot to look at his Scroll as he watched me stretch.

Then he looked at his Scroll and grew very quiet.

"Oz?"

He began to panic, his eyes growing huge and his fear and anger spiking.

"Oz?" I asked concerned.

"My dear, if you'd like to sleep a little while longer, I've got company soon and I'm afraid it'd look strange to see you leaving my office this early. You'll have plenty of time to pack but for now, I need you to just stay in here." He said rising.

"Oh... okay..." I said, still sitting half tangled in his covers. He set his scroll down and went into his bathroom.

I waited till I heard the shower running to grab his Scroll.

I felt guilty for going through his stuff but I knew it was important.

I memorized what page he was on and then began searching.

My fingers flew over the screen.

Ah. The General was in a fit because…

Someone had broken into the CCT and done something. One witness. Ruby Rose.

I tried to dig deeper but too many correspondences Oz had put protections on and I couldn't access them. So I looked at what I could.

I absorbed everything I could before going back to his original page and closing it, setting it exactly back where I had picked it up. I heard the shower turn off and I silently crept back into the bed.

He came out a while later and dressed. I laid down and pretended to be dozing.

"They are almost here. Are you hungry?" He asked sitting down next to me.

There was a cold knot in my stomach. I shook my head and he petted my hair gently, taking comfort in my closeness.

_Be brave, Oz._

I smiled at him and kissed the palm of his hand.

All of his information I had just stolen flashed across my eyes and the cold crept from my stomach to my chest. I shivered.

He tucked the comforter around me and then pulled a lever that would let the staircase into his office down.

I immediately went to the square of floor the opened with the staircase and forcefully pushed down on it, cracking it open then I shoved a book in it to keep it open. I could hear Oz walk to his strange looking chair and sit down.

I needed to hear what was said.

Again. Assassins are not above listening through keyholes. Or trapdoors.

I heard and felt Goodwitch come in feeling worn and frustrated. Then the General came in and the emotions whirled together and became a storm of feeling.

Ironwood was furious.

Oz sat behind his clockwork desk, probably looking pensive, listening to the General pace and yell.

Apparently, last night as I was climbing the tower, a woman had infiltrated the CCT. She was caught by Ruby Rose but they had no idea what she had done before Ruby showed up.

James was angry because he had told Oz before that there were enemies disguised as exchange students.

I already knew that though. My assassination attempt and my old mask were proof.

"They were here... Ozpin they were here!" He yelled, slamming a fist on the table.

It took effort to keep myself from intervening. All I could do was lend my strength to Oz.

Glynda was in a mood as well. "We are very much aware of that. Thank you, James." She said frostily. "Fantastic. You're aware of it. Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what is right in front of us!" Ironwood was inconsolable.

He felt impatient and angry that he had let the enemies slip through his grasp.

A feeling shared by the whole room.

There was a beeping and I heard Oz stand up. "Come in."

Ah, Ruby was there. Now the real things to hear would be said.

A nervous Ruby entered. "Oh, sorry it took so long. Someone accidentally hit all the buttons in the elevator on the way up here... It wasn't me."

I had to stifle a giggle. Of course, she had done it.

Oz's humor eased some of my tension. "Thank you for coming, Ruby. How are you feeling?" He asked gently.

His feelings toward the little red hooded girl were similar to the feelings he shared toward team RWBY in general.

Like a watchful uncle perhaps.

"Okay, I guess. I'd feel better if my bad guy catching record wasn't oh for three." She said jokingly. But inside it really affected her confidence.

Subtly I stretched a thin thread out to her to ease the guilt.

No one laughed at her joke. "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it?" She said meekly.

The General responded first.

"Ruby. I feel it's appropriate to let you know, that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat, you took action and you did the very best you could."

That last sentence ran through my head. I put it in a file in my memory for later reflection.

"Thank you, sir." Ruby said, feeling the effects of my healing and Ironwood's compliment.

"Now, the General here has already informed us of the events that... transpired last night. But now that you've rested we were wondering if you had anything to add."

I listened closer to the door.

"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Glynda pressed.

The Huntress had a sneaking suspicion that she was considering.

"I.. I don't know. She was wearing a mask and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance though. Her clothing lit up whenever she attacked."

I rifled through my brain. Glass…

"Save for the glass... that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby." Glynda said, confirming her suspicion.

The General was frustrated though.

"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age old technique. It could have been anyone."

"Wait." Ruby said. "You think this girl is connected with Torchwick and the White Fang?"

My heart slowed. Torchwick... White Fang... Dust infused clothing... Glass... _Cinder_.

I hissed quietly, feeling the rage like a rising tide inside of me.

_Cinder!_

"Actually, I think remember hearing her say something about a hideout or something in the Southeast, just outside the kingdom." Ruby felt nervous divulging such a secret. "Interesting." The Headmaster replied.

I filed that away too.

Oz felt a spark of hope while Ironwood and Goodwitch felt confused and suspicious.

I couldn't deal with all the rage. Couldn't focus anymore. I was so furious I was seeing red. Blood pounded in my ears, blocking out the rest of the conversation with Ruby. I felt her go.

I took several deep silent breaths to calm myself enough to listen to the three adults talking.

Ironwood was sure that an all-out attack, wiping out everyone they found there, was the ideal solution. Finish it before it started.

Glynda ranted over his need for military bravado till Oz silenced her before she said something unspeakably crude.

"She is right. As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all we must remember that this might go beyond Vale. Beyond Beacon. And if this truly is part of some master plan for which we know not the final move we mustn't be so bold. Nor can we risk the spread of panic."

Ironwood was mutinous. "I have served you faithfully for years. But if you mean to tell me that your plan is to merely hold the defenses and wait-"

"It is not!" Oz said fiercely, standing up.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. Cinder was part of this. Another connection to Omar.

She had come into my kingdom, to hurt the people I loved again. Just like…

"You're a General James. So tell me. When you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearer or the scouts?"

The question silenced Ironwood.

"Now if you please, I must prepare for today's excitement." Oz said. A dismissal.

I pulled the book out and let the trapdoor close quietly before I stood up and went to the eastern part of the room and pressed a hand to the cold glass. Looking up I saw a small handle. An emergency escape.

I opened in and pulled myself through, reveling in the frigid air.

The wind whipped across me, chilling me to the bone in my short night dress. But it wasn't enough to cool my anger.

So I looked up and saw the cleverly hidden rungs that ran up and down from the hatch. Seizing the ones above me I pulled myself upward and began to climb the seemingly flat diagonal surface.

The General and Goodwitch left.

I ground my teeth. I felt no pain, only fury.

I reached the top. Only thing above me was the point of the tower. I still wasn't high enough.

So I grabbed a hold of the thin vane above me and hauled myself up the steep incline till I wrapped my hand around the very tip of the tower and I looked out.

The wind was ferocious up there, whipping my gown about, stinging my eyes to tears and chilling my skin.

Only up there, at the top of the world, did my anger begin to cool into determination.

This mission grew more personal with every step I took in it.

Cinder and I went way back. Too far for my liking.

I'd tear her throat out with my teeth if I ever got my hands on her. She had caused me enough pain already to last a lifetime.

"Dahlia?!" Oz cried, sticking his head out of the escape hatch and looking up.

I looked back out at Vale, as far as I could see. I could see the transporters and all the glory of the Atlas military. I wished they would leave so that I could deal with Cinder and her ilk quietly, as the assassin I once was.

"Please come down." He yelled into the wind.

I sighed and began to edge my way down the steep glass roof.

My anger gone, pain returned in force. That was a stupid trick I pulled.

When I reached the hatch and slid inside, Oz had to catch me. My leg would no longer support me.

"What in the name of all that's good happened? Why were you were on the roof?" He said wrapping his arms around me. I had grown very cold.

My teeth chattered. "H-Hard to explain."

He looked concerned. "Please try."

In his arms, I grew warm enough to stop my shivering. I sagged under the weight of secrets. Maybe I should just tell him...

"It's complicated, Oz. I was listening to the conversation…"

I chanced a glance at him, in case he was mad. His expression didn't change. "And… I heard what you were talking about and I got so angry. So very angry." I couldn't believe it. Cinder was here and I didn't even notice. One of Omar's prize pupil's. He must have warned her to stay out of my way or I would notice her. I would know her even from a distance. I'd never forget her.

"I had to cool down and the air outside was the only thing that helped."

He didn't really understand but I could sense him trying. "Why were you so angry?" He led me to the bed where I sat down and ran a nervous hand through my wind knotted hair. "Because… I think I know… who attack the CCT…" Letting go was so hard.

His concern instantly was mixed with curiosity and need. "What can you tell me? My dear, this could be vital information." I nodded, knowing it was but I also knew that sharing this information would lead to sharing more and then the most terrifying thing: the truth.

"She's one of Omar Children, or at least she used to be. I knew her from when I was growing up…" She and I had fought over my Father's attention like rabid dogs. Then one day, soon after she had helped my Father break me to his regime, she was gone. Sold, like a slave to one of Omar's business partner's. I turned and grabbed Oz's shoulder's, my eyes boring into his so that he would know what I said was true and very serious.

"Do not underestimate her, Oz. She is clever, cruel and has the backing of my Father. She has no empathy or caring for those that get caught in the middle of his schemes. If she is here, then she has orders. Don't let Ironwood get caught up in her games. If my Father has given her orders, then I can bet my life, that the General will lose. We will all lose."

Oz held me as the memories came for me. Unrelenting in their horror, I watched Cinder's gleeful face as she burned out my Mother's eyes with her thumbs. A test of her new power and the final straw for my spirit. I had listened to my Mother scream and cry, her beautiful ice blue eyes melting from the heat.

I had been held down, unable to do anything but watch, as Cinder Fall murdered my poor mother.

"It's alright, Dahlia. I promise I won't let them play their games. I promise, I won't let them hurt you." Oz said, rocking me back and forth soothingly. He was so kind, so understanding. I hadn't had to say how dangerous Omar was. I hadn't had to trot out the horror stories to make him understand that my Father was possibly the most powerful and the most insane man ever born.

Oz knew. He understood me, even when I didn't say anything.

I looked up at him after the tears were gone. "I love you. I love you so much." His fingers were gentle as they brushed away the last of my tears. Inside, I could feel his heart swelling with that intoxicating, indescribable feeling.

"I never knew that love was like this. My friends always described it but I assumed that I just wasn't the kind of man who deserved that kind of bond. I didn't really believe in it."

He murmured as I laid my head on his shoulder.

I looked into those words and the festering wound inside him.

For a man who isolated himself so well, he had a deep fear of being alone. Of living the rest of his life lonely. And of losing the few people he had come to care deeply for.

He had truly believed whoever it was when they said that he didn't deserve love.

It was shocking how deeply I could feel him. How I could feel almost brushes of memory, like the memory of someone pounding it into him that he would always be alone.

It hurt more because this hurt resonated in the dark part of my own soul.

How many times had Omar told me that something like me was never meant to be loved?

I was meant to be used, nothing more. A tool. A weapon.

But, I wasn't. I was a woman who loved a man. A man more complex and uncertain than I was. I might be a weapon but I was a healer. So for the man I loved, I Healed that crack in his soul with all the love I could bring to bear. It was a powerful experience.

Oz gazed at me with wonder in his eyes. I wasn't sure if it was me or him, but when I Healed him, suddenly the wound in my heart vanished as well. The sorrow, the joy, oh the relief.

I could be Healed. I wasn't as broken as I'd thought.

A weight I hadn't noticed I had been carrying was suddenly gone, leaving me lighter than I had in many moons. I was loved and I could love in return.

The best part was, it was as simple and natural as breathing.

"What is love, my dearest? What is this feeling inside my chest that I get whenever I see you? What does the warmth in my heart mean?" He asked me after he settled.

I thought about it for a second, just tracing his face with my fingers.

"Someone once wrote in a book, Love means never having to say you're sorry. But I think it's something more than that. I mean even in people in love make mistakes that need apologies. I think, love means never having to say goodbye."

His brow crinkled and he felt confused.

"Never saying goodbye? But we've said-"

"No, we have never said goodbye. We've said goodnight, see you soon, and all those but never goodbye. The things we say mean until next time, apart for only a short time before being reunited and even then apart only means physically. Even when we part, you're still with me. Goodbye means leaving. To me, goodbye means forever."

_So many have said goodbye to me_.

"So love means never having to leave forever?"

"Exactly. If it's true love, you're never truly apart."

He cuddled me close.

"Then I must be in love. I'd rather cut off my arm than lose you."

And he really meant every word he said. "We've discovered the meaning of love, Oz." I smiled happily.

"Love means never having to say goodbye." He murmured happily.

"Never." I agreed and we kissed again.

He nuzzled my cheek. "I'll never say goodbye, but you probably need to go get ready. I have a nice speech prepared for today." I got confused.

"You receive your missions today. You'll be leaving this evening." He said sadly.

I kissed him. "I'll be fine Oz, my love. Don't worry so. I'll just be shadowing remember?"

He pursed his lips in thought. "Mmmm."

"I promise I'll be careful." He laughed. "That's reassuring."

I stuck my tongue out at his sarcasm and began to finished gathering my things up. I slipped into his bathroom, took a sketchy shower, brush my teeth, brushed my hair and dressed in my normal attire.

When I stepped out, Oz's feeling flared. "There is my warrior lady."

"Your warrior lady?" I said incredulously.

"Of course, you're mine." He growled running his hand possessively over my hair.

"I'm going to pack. I'll try to see you before I leave." I whispered, nuzzling his cheek.

"Just try to leave without seeing me."


	26. Chapter 26

When I got back to my room, my teammates pummeled me with questions. I saw the anxiousness in Elise's face and knew why.

She was afraid I had spent the night with Daren.

"I was doing a little investigating." I said throwing them off guard. Elise still felt nervous.

Since the boys were already packed, I sent them to go get us good seats while I packed myself and spoke to Elise.

"I wasn't with Daren, sweetheart. He and I are nothing but dance partners and close friends. I'm too strange looking for him." I said.

She blushed. "Oh... I-uh... I thought that... maybe..." I laughed and wrapped my arms around her. "You are adorable when you're embarrassed." She growled at me and hugged me back.

"Does he...?" She began to ask. I smiled thinking of Daren's feelings for Elise. They were nothing like my strange relationship with the School headmaster but I remembered the night before when Daren had brought a rose for the little girl who had charmed him with her first dance.

She had been so stunning at the dance. Soft, sweet and sexy.

I slowly nodded.

I remembered feeling his exasperated affection for the feisty blonde and how he had bravely put himself between her and the fight to keep her safe. And to keep those boys alive. I had merely beaten them. Elise would have murdered them right there on the dancefloor.

Her relief and joy lit her from within.

"Oh, great." She sighed, smiling sweetly. "We'll go visit him before we leave today." I said. "Sometimes, having an empath for a friend is annoying but other times like now it's the best!" She said throwing her arms around me.

"But wait." She said pulling back. "If you weren't with Daren, then who were you with last night?"

I stuttered. "I know you weren't investigating Dally. Your Dallas Hartman clothes were still here. So..." She propped her chin on her fist. "Where were you?"

I had forgotten how bloody deductive she was. She put seemingly unrelated pieces of a puzzle together and made connections others never did.

To my frustration, I began to blush.

"Ha! I knew it! You were with someone! Who?" She said nudging me.

I couldn't say Yang because I had already told her about my botched attempt at drunken romance outside Raindance.

"I can't tell you." I said, looking away, shoving my matte polish into my bag. I only had one medium sized backpack. As an assassin, you learned to travel light.

"Of course you can. Friends tell friends about the people that make them blush as dark as you do. Especially best friends. We are best friends, right?"

"Of course!"

She grinned. "Then you can tell me."

I sighed and winced. I wanted to tell her but I was so afraid. I closed my eyes and tried to forget the power I had felt with Oz. How strong my feelings were for him.

Yet what if she didn't understand?

"Wow, I can't imagine who it is for you to hesitate so much. You were the one that said there was no reason Peyton and Elin couldn't be together. If two people cared about each other it was something amazing and was to be cherished." She said, her big brown eyes staring gently into mine.

"You can trust me. You know I won't tell anyone. It can't be that bad." She said, scooting closer to me.

My determination crumbled. The secret was too much. It wasn't something bad.

It wasn't like I was telling her about Omar.

I was telling her about Oz, who loved me just as much as I loved him.

"You promise you won't judge me?" I whispered, terrified that she would. Would she understand?

"I promise. My brother has a boyfriend. Not much surprises me anymore." She said nonchalantly.

_Just say it, Dahlia._

"P-Professor Ozpin." I said, almost too quiet to hear. I closed my eyes and waited for the screech of disbelief and disgust.

"Oh." She said, shocked. She felt confused and surprised. "That was unexpected. My best friend is canoodling with the Headmaster... that's new." She said laughing a little, slowly accepting it.

I opened my eyes. "Y-You're okay with it?" I said surprised. She really laughed. "What did you think I was going to do? Yell at you? Hate you? Stop being friends with you? Run to the nearest adult and tattle tale?" She said. When I didn't laugh, she sobered.

"Dahlia, that's not what friends do. Now, I have no idea why you went for the headmaster but I'm not attracted to him. Obviously, you are. What you have is to be cherished, just like you said." I felt tears fill my eyes.

I stood up and hugged her tightly. "You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for. Thank you. Oh Gods, thank you!" She hugged me tightly. "You're welcome, Dahlia. You're the sister I never had. But now that you've finally told me who your mystery man is, you have to tell me everything!" She said pushing me onto the bed.

I looked at the clock. We had plenty of time.

I blushed as she fixed me with her best fascinated stare and felt the intense curiosity inside her.

"Well... uh, well... I mean it started the first day we were here. I thought he was handsome at the speech... then we made eye contact before I was thrown into the Emerald Forest and I thought I was scared of him. But that night, after I had my first talk with Blake, I saw him in a special garden by the library and he welcomed me inside and we laughed together. I hadn't laughed so hard in ages. It was just really nice and he told me he thought I was beautiful and that he had never seen a woman like me." I said blushing as Elise fawned over the romance. "And we said we would meet in the garden again soon. He didn't come back though. I would wait till you guys were asleep and then go and sit out in the garden for him every night for months. He was afraid that I would reject him so he avoided seeing me alone." Elise awww'ed, feeling for Ozpin. She had been terrified that Daren would reject her out of hand.

"Then, when you guys rescued me and I went to talk with him, he held me when I cried and made me see that it wasn't anyone's fault. He let me lean on him for strength and that night he came to the garden and we talked all night. He accepted some of the darkness inside me. I think that was when I first began to fall for him." I said, remembering it like it was yesterday.

It felt so good to talk about it.

"The first time I kissed him was the next night when I got super drunk. After I got Yang in bed I walked the wrong way. I couldn't find my way back to my room and by coincidence, he found me stumbling through the halls and walked me back. And I kissed him on impulse. Kind of surprised him." Elise was enraptured. It was such a strange love story.

"He doesn't know that I remember, but I clearly remember him saying 'Do you know the best thing about being drunk? You never remember what happened in the morning.' And then HE kissed me!" Elise squeal and grabbed my pillow to cuddle with. "So cute, oh God! I can't imagine stoic Ozpin being so romantic."

"Oz says he isn't very good with the whole romance thing because he's never done it before but he is actually very romantic."

"Oh, you call him Oz!" She said hugging my pillow tight.

"Then the night Blake accidentally spilled her secret, he heard me talking to her and figured out about Blake being my blood-sib."

Elise nodded. "So that's why you were frustrated when I figured it out. He had already found out and then I did and two people knew your secret." She said sagely. I nodded.

"And after the whole docks incident, he worried and fussed all over me. I have no clue how he'll survive me being a Huntress. He worries every time I get into trouble. He told me I wear trouble like a crown."

Elise laughed. This was a whole new side of the Professor, one no one saw. "You do."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "He missed me while we were gone at your house for the break but that gave me time to make everyone's books. I made one for him too, but there were more of me and him than in other people's books." She pointed. "So that's who you were thinking about whenever you'd go all dreamy eyed!" I blushed. I had daydreamed about him often while I was away. Thinking about it made me smile.

"And then he felt so happy to see me when we came back."

She smiled and then looked shocked. Laughter bubbled up. "Oh! When he- oh man!" She burst into gales of laughter.

"Oh, I could've kicked him when he baited you guys into getting me with desert." I said. "But later, after you guys covered me with whipped cream and chocolate, we were in his office and he was helping me clean up."

She eyed me. "That sounds like the beginning of an interesting por-" I hit her with a pillow before she could finished. Especially because that was direction it headed. "He was telling me that he missed me and I told him about his surprise and I told him I'd give it to him if he was nice to me." She arched her eyebrow and heat traveled across my face and neck. "And he..."

"Tell me! This is good stuff!" She said and I grew hotter.

"He licked the whip cream off my neck and we really kissed then. Up until then it had been light easy kisses." She winked at me.

"I had never felt so hot in my life. It was like someone had set me on fire." She began fanning herself. I smiled, cooling myself down.

"We had our first fight the night before the dance. I had gotten hurt and he was mad at me for trying to keep him in the dark about it. He snapped at me and I got mad and I left with it hanging between us." She smiled. "Aw, your first fight. Peyton and Elin fight too so you must be doing something right."

I laughed. Peyton and Elin bicker lovingly as we said. To anyone else not in team DEEP or our sister teams thought that their relationship was awful.

"Then last night I was mean and used Daren to make him jealous, which worked. And in the end, we danced and made up. Then he told me to come to his room. I have a special way of getting into his room, even without him and he doesn't know how I do it but then I was in his room and he wasn't there. He was probably still closing out the dance and I made him a cup of tea. And I was so tired from not sleeping for a long time that I laid down on his bed and fell asleep. He came in and I woke up a little but I don't remember waking up at all. And I talked to him before falling asleep. I felt so safe and warm." I said, going all soft remembering all of it.

"I told him something last night." She leaned in close. "What did you tell him?"

I smiled. "I finally told him I love him."

She squealed and fell back, "So utterly adorable."

I laughed. Oh, it felt so good to finally tell someone! And even better, Elise wasn't mad or disgusted! She was just happy that I had fallen in love. It was the greatest gift anyone had given me. Acceptance.

"I can't believe it, Dahlia. You love Professor Ozpin. The Headmaster of Beacon Academy. Wow, no wonder you kept it such a secret." She said, brushing her fingers over my leg. "Yeah. People just wouldn't understand it. We love each other, Ely. Like true love." She smiled.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" I nodded. "Of course I would. I'm an empath."

"Well, I would have NEVER guessed it so you two have done a great job keeping it a secret." I nodded. "Ugh, now I'm not going to be able to look at him without thinking about the two of you together and all the cute stuff he's done." I laughed at her. That was her problem.

"Would all first year students please report to the amphitheater." Glynda's voice said over the speaker.

I stood and finished packing. "Well, let's go dear. It's time to pick our shadowing." I said. "Oh, you mean time of Ozpin's speech. I know that's what you really want to go to." I shot her a look.

"You just want to get this over so you can go see Daren."

She shrugged in agreement.

We left with my arm over her shoulder and her arm around my waist.

"You know, it feels weird. I've never had a girly talk before. Like the ones you see in movies." I said. She patted my hip.

"Get used to it. Now that you're in love, you have to keep me informed."

* * *

It didn't take us long to get to the amphitheater. We dropped off our bags with everyone else's.

Elin and Peyton waved to us and we meandered over to them. "Finally. You guys took forever." Elin groaned.

Elise smacked him in the shoulder. "We were having girl talk."

"Girl talk, huh?" Peyton drawled crossing his arms over his massive chest. I winked at him and he grinned.

Team RWBY came in and I sniffed the air.

What smelled like dog?

I looked over at Blake who wore a strange expression on her face. She had once looked at me the same way when we were younger. My Mother had thought it was so strange that a Wolf and a Cat would become Blood-Siblings but she had witnessed the ceremony. Her last gift to me.

There were some interesting feelings running around inside of them and I didn't have the will to figure out what the four girls had done.

"Quiet, quiet please. Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin." Goodwitch said to the crowd of students, who had divided themselves by school.

Then my attention was caught by the man who came on the stage. Elise nudged me with a sly look on her face and I blushed redder than Ruby's hood.

She was going to be insufferable.

He was so handsome. He stood with his feet shoulder width apart, shoulders back in a proud almost military stance with his cane in both of his hands planted before him, reminding me of the first time I had ever saw him. It was so long ago. It felt like another lifetime.

He was nervous but no one would've known just by his face or bearing.

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware that was something many could not stand for." His eyes were fierce and his expression regretful.

"As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they not tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it is a trend that held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity, through diversity." He felt a tenderness as he gazed amongst the students gathered, everyone dressed in their own battle attire, unique to a person's own personality. I smiled to myself.

For all our love and care, Oz has still yet to tell me his real name. It was something he just wasn't ready to tell yet and I could respect that.

He still had no idea that he loved a killer.

"As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it."

I felt a thrill of pride. Everyone in the room was moved by the passion and sincerity in his voice. How could one not be moved? He spoke with his heart.

Screens rose around the room and there were blocks of missions. Each team would choose one.

My teammates began whispering excitedly but I just kept my eyes on Oz.

"As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days, others will work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose," His eyes found mine in the crowd. "Remember to be safe, remember your training and remember to do your very best." He said before walking off the stage with a smile.

Elise saw the interaction and had to suppress a wide smile.

I already knew where we needed to be assigned. "Guys, come with me." I said standing. "Why, oh fearless leader?"

"This leader knows where we need to get assigned to continue with our... extra assignment." I murmured quietly. There was that subtle change in my teammates as they switch into that mode they had when we spoke of the secret mission.

"We need to get assigned to a South east quadrant."

Peyton nodded. "I'm on it."

He began weaving through the crowd with us following. For his size, he slipped easily through the crowd. I was proud. My training had done him good.

"Team DEEP." That voice called. We all stopped and turned as Oz came towards us with a Scroll in his hand.

"Yes, Professor?" I said.

Elise was going to burst.

"You four have already been assigned a mission. You'll be briefed later. You leave at midnight. Your Huntsman is still getting here."

My eyebrows rose.

Already assigned?

"I see. Well, sir, could you tell us where we've been assigned?" I said, nudging him inside me. He nudged back.

"A very popular region at the moment. Now if you'll excuse me, I will see you all later."

He smiled and walked into the crowd.

Peyton was confused. "What just happened?"

I shrugged. I had never heard of first years getting assigned for missions.

"I'll go find out. You guys, I guess, take our bags back to our room. We don't leave till late." They nodded and went to grab our bags. "Team meeting after we farewell our friends." I called. There was acknowledgment and then they were gone.

I turned and followed Oz.

I found him with team RWBY. I couldn't get close enough to hear what was being said, but I didn't need to hear to understand.

Team RWBY was trying to get assigned to the Southeast. But the Grimm activity blocked it from first years.

_Oz, what are you up to?_

He was filled with mirth as he spoke to the four embarrassed girls. Then he typed something on his Scroll and suddenly, it popped up that team RWBY would be on a Search and Destroy mission in Quadrant 5.

_Curious._

Then he turned very serious. He was worried for the team but he knew they'd end up in that quadrant one way or another.

He walked away, leaving them sober.

"What are you up to, Professor Ozpin?" I said, leaning on Orchid. He smiled.

"Bending the rules, Ms. Derivalle, before they break." He said before walking away smiling.

My eyes narrowed and I could feel his laughter as if he was standing next to me.

"Dahlia, Team CFVY is back!" Elise called, leaping over people.

She and I dashed out.

My second year friends had been gone for far too long.

The four older students were walking in. Coco and Fox smiled and hugged us before walking away. Yatsuhashi, a boy who almost beat Peyton out for size and bulk, fist bumped us stone-faced before walking away and then beloved Velvet came and hugged me tight.

"It's so good to have you back. I was beginning to worry." I whispered. "No need to fear, Mommy Quicksilver. I had Yatsuhashi to watch out for me."

I held her shoulders and stood back, gazing at her with a healer's eyes.

She was worn down but relieved to be back. Their solo mission had been hard on all of them.

Her battle attire was a long black leotard beneath a short crop brown long sleeve zip up jacket and matching shorts trimmed with thick gold straps with golden spaulders on her shoulder and matching vambraces on her forearms. Her gold belt hung diagonally across her hips and her brown boots had heel and toes gold plates. On her chest over her heart was her emblem. It looked like a dark brown heart on a gold circle. The brown heart looked like it was ripped and sewn back together with white thread.

"You need plenty of rest to restore your energy. I'll make a restorative tea for you tonight. Healer's orders." I said smiling at her.

"Oh, Dally, you're mothering her already." Elise groaned. Velvet laughed and hugged her and I again.

"Where are you going for your mission?"

Elise shrugged. "Ozpin assigned us. We have no idea where we are going. We find out later and we leave tonight. Apparently our Huntsman is still making his way here."

Velvet looked confused. "That's strange." I nodded.

"Yeah but it's kind of already done. So we'll have some time for me to mother your team before I leave." I grinned.

Velvet smiled back. "See you later?"

I nodded and ran a hand down her hair before she left.

"O jeez, Dahlia. You and Oz need to just go ahead and have kids so you can focus on your own brood instead of the rest of us." Elise murmured in my ear.

I blushed thinking of Oz and I.

"You wouldn't know what to do if I didn't mother you." She laughed.

"You'd make pretty babies." She said winking.

The idea of having children, especially with Oz, both thrilled and terrified me.

Thrilled because I wanted it. I wanted a child of my own to teach and love and cherish like my mother hadn't.

Terrified because I had seen what had happened to the children and spouses of the assassins who got caught.

They didn't die quickly.

"Hush up, you." I muttered trying to cool my burning cheeks.

"Since you're a Wolf Faunus, would you have a litter or just one?" She asked when we were alone.

"_Elise!"_

She laughed.

* * *

Everyone was preparing to leave. Elin and Peyton came to say goodbye too.

Team RWBY was the first off. Team RWBY... and dear Dr. Oobleck.

I couldn't keep a short bark of laughter back. Oz had done that on purpose.

"Three minutes behind schedule ladies! Give my regards!" Oobleck said before zipping onto the airship.

Yang was the first one to me. "Whatever Gods you worship Dahlia, please ask them to help us." She muttered under her breath. I laughed and kissed her cheek. "You'll be fine. I know you'll keep them safe." I said, before passing her off to Elise, who bear hugged the air out of the other blonde. Same with Elin and Peyton.

As an oldest, Yang, like me, had a protective streak. When I reassured her that she'd be able to keep her friends safe it eased a spike in her.

Weiss just needed a hug and a confidence boost. She was not expecting to be lead about on a mission by a history teacher. I reminded her that she wasn't alone. Her smile was sweet.

Blake's goodbye was especially hard. These months together had been sweeter than any sugar. I had missed having my sibling around. "Be brave, little sister." I whispered as she hugged me. "You too, Big sister. None of us will make it without you." I eased her fear of leaving me. She was afraid that I wouldn't be here when she got back, just like the last time she had left. "You'll be fine without me, kitten." I said kissing her cheek.

When Ruby approached me I got a whiff of dog smell. I had to control my features and I hugged her tight. She was afraid. Afraid to fail again, afraid that she wouldn't be able to keep her team safe, afraid that they weren't ready to be out on their own.

I eased her fear and gently warmed her confidence. "I'm only a click away if you need me." I whispered to the young leader.

It made her feel better knowing that Mommy Quicksilver would be there if she was called.

"Well, alright then, looks like we're going to save the world with Dr... Oobleck, okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." Ruby said, aiming for positives before ending with despair.

"Save the world?" Nora cried. Team JNPR joined us. "You're going on world saving missions without us?! I'm hurt! Sad! Maybe a little hungry? That last one is not your fault though...Ren." Nora said putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the tall black haired boy, who crossed his arms across his chest and put his nose in the air with a fake frown on his lips.

"Sounds exciting. Where you guys going?" Jaune asked. Ruby hooked her fingers in the straps of her backpack. "Oh, just outside the kingdom." She said casually. I smiled, "We get our assignment later from the Headmaster. We ship out tonight."

"We leave tomorrow!" Nora cried. "We're also going outside the kingdom."

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha commented putting her hand on her hip. "Sounds like an adventure." Elin said sweetly.

"Hey, so who is leaving tomorrow? You can party with us tonight!" Sun strolled up to us with Neptune. "Hello boys." I said.

"Hey, Mommy." Neptune said off handedly. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner city detective stuff. We get junior badges."

Jaune stared at Neptune with awe in his big blue eyes.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk. So we thought this might be a better chance to check out the kingdom when it's you know, normal." Sun said in the way only Sun could.

Ruby began to comment when Oobleck cried the four minute mark.

Everyone got quiet and just stared at team RWBY, sympathy radiating from everyone. I laughed and then they looked at me weird. I controlled myself. "You guys are funny."

Ruby grimace grinned. "Well... wish us luck." She said lamely. We walked the team to the airship. "Good luck guys! Remember, one click away!" I called out.

"Good luck, Dr. Oobleck!" I waved. "And to you, Ms. Derivalle! And to all of you!" He yelled back before the airship flew away.

"Be safe." I whispered staring at the retreating ship. "Don't worry Mommy. They'll be fine." Sun said, putting an arm over my shoulders as Elise wrapped hers around my waist. I put my right arm over Elise's shoulders and wrapped my left around Sun's firm waist after I shrunk Orchid down and stowed her away.

"I hope so."

I had to learn to trust them with their lives.

We all walked away, Sun refusing to let me go, so Neptune joined in the chain, putting his arm over Elise's shoulder and my arm. Then Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Peyton, Elin and Jaune joined in, putting arms around shoulders and waists.

It was nice to walk without needing Orchid. With Sun and Elise's support, I could walk almost like normal.

I whispered in Elise's ear. "Later, we'll go to town and see Daren."

She blushed. "Actually, I was planning on going after we meet with Ozpin... and you don't need to come with me. You could give your man a proper farewell and get working on those kids." She whispered back.

Both of us were alarming shades of crimson from embarrassment.

"What are you two talking about? Why are you such funny colors?" Sun asked loudly.

We turned deeper red.

"We'll tell you when you're older." I said in a motherly tone. He was about to try and argue when Peyton piped up.

"Don't try man. You'll just end up more confused than before." He said with the voice of experience.

We all laughed and matched our footsteps up as we went.


	27. Chapter 27

We broke outside the dorms with promises to see everyone off tomorrow. Peyton and Elin outpaced us to the room. They were eager for a nice cuddle session.

The others invited us to hang out, but we had our meeting with Oz, I needed to visit team CFVY and then Elise and I had plans for the rest of the evening. Midnight was going to come too soon.

"You should tell the rest of the team. I think Peyton and Elin deserve to know." She said a little before we got back to the dorm. I frowned a little. Should I tell them?

"You should do it, Dahlia. They'll be upset if they figure out you told me but didn't tell them." She argued. "You made me tell you!"

She conceded but didn't change her argument.

"For that matter, team RWBY and JNPR should know too. Especially since one of those teams has a certain little sister on it, who will be mad to know that you're in love and didn't tell her."

But what would they think?

Oh, I know. They'd think I was disgusting obviously.

I was in love with the school's Headmaster. A man whose age was still unknown but he was clearly much older than I.

And yet, Peyton and Elin had a controversial relationship. Two boys? Maybe they would understand that I didn't have a choice in who I loved any more than they did.

The others didn't mind the two boys... but would they accept me... and their Headmaster?

No. No, they wouldn't.

"Team meeting then visit to team CFVY, then Ozpin's going to brief us on this 'mystery assignment'." I told everyone when I walked in the room. "Is this assignment going to affect our extra secret one?" Elin asked, snuggling closer to Peyton.

I shook my head. "We'll still work on it no matter what. It's really important. Our shadowing takes second place when compared with the safety of the kingdom." I said, sitting down.

"Good." Peyton said firmly.

Elise cleared her throat. I blushed. "Boys, Dahlia has a secret to tell you." She said casually.

If looks could've killed, Elise would have been annihilated.

"Oh? Really? The mysterious Dahlia is giving up some of her mystery?" The boys said rolling over to fix me with equally interested looks.

"We've all been wondering about Dahlia's secret lover. We've gone back and forth for months and today I finally weaseled it out of her." Elise said proudly.

Elin looked excited and Peyton looked mildly interested. "Do tell."

I fidgeted.

"Tell them." Elise demanded. I winced. "I-ah-ummm- yeah... the... P-Professor..."

Elise sighed gustily. "She's been seeing Professor Ozpin since the beginning of the school year." She finished for me.

"WHAT?!" Both boys exclaimed.

I winced. "It's true."

They went silent and I felt them processing all of it. "But he's so old!" Elin said shell shocked. I got defensive. "He isn't that old." He snorted but Peyton knocked Elin on the head before I had a chance.

"Don't be an idiot. She didn't judge us. In fact, if it weren't for her I don't think either of us would have ever been brave enough to talk about our feelings. She is trusting us with something important. The least you can do is not be mean about it. If she loves him, then it is precious, just like my love for you is."

Elin felt shamed and Peyton wrapped his arm around his slim boyfriend.

"Though I'm definitely interesting in hearing how this... relationship came into play. You two have never seemed like anything more than teacher and student."

Elise jumped in. I had a feeling I wouldn't need to talk much. Elise was excited enough to do it all for me. "I know! That's what caught me so off guard. There was no hint at all. But boys, it's so cute! It took me a few minutes to get used to the idea but god they are adorable. You just have no idea."

"Tell us then!" Elin cried, looking eager. Elin was truly a sucker for a good love story.

Elise looked at me. I sighed. "Go ahead."

She took a breath.

"Okay, so it all began when their eyes met the first day of school..."

* * *

An hour later after my secret was finally revealed and Elin nearly fainted from awing so much, and incredibly Peyton finally admitted to being a tech Semblance and Elin told Peyton about his Chameleon Semblance. Secrets were shared all around.

I had time to visit team CFVY. I examined each member, Healing what needed healing, whether physically, mentally or emotionally, and had them all drink the tea I made for them and ensured sure they got the rest they needed.

Soon it was time for our briefing. All three of my team members felt oddly excited to see Oz again and configure all the new information into their idea about the stoic Headmaster.

I felt nervous. What if one of them said something?

I resolved to nip that one and just tell Oz that they knew. I'd sworn them to secrecy, putting emphasis on the consequences of people finding out. People would use him to hurt me. They would accuse him of helping us through school and a million other things. It would put us all in danger... well, more than we'd already gotten ourselves into.

So the four of us, dressed in our daily attire made our way to the conference room 2B, where inside, sipping his tea was Oz.

"Ah, team DEEP. Right on time." Elin snorted. "As if with Dahlia we could be anything but."

The twinkle in Oz's eye shined on us and I felt fondness flow from him for my teammates. He studiously avoided meeting my eyes.

"Please, have a seat. We have a few things to discuss." Peyton held the chair out for me to sit in. I kept Orchid in my hand and leaned her against my right shoulder. Elise sat between me and Peyton with Elin on the end and her eyes were riveted on Oz's face.

Such interest was noticed and puzzled over by him.

"Now, I'm sure you've been wondering why we assigned you a mission instead of letting you work your way into the position in the Southeast quadrant on your own." I blushed. He knew my plan all along. "And with the tech Semblance, it would have been quite easy for you to do it, wouldn't it have been?" Peyton turned red and stammered a disclaimer.

"Let me ease your fears and confirm your thoughts. You have been assigned to the South east. But in a different way than the rest of your school mates."

I looked at my team and I saw confused expressions on every single one.

Suddenly there was another presence in the room. I could feel them but they were simply observing. Ah, this must be our Huntsman.

"Since the beginning of the school year, this team has shown a remarkable affinity for a special kind of fighting. I've studied you fighting as a group. Together you have become one of the best teams in my Academy. You have a very hard to match style when fighting in real combat. Does this look familiar to you?"

He turned his Scroll to show us.

I felt panic from my teammates. The was Protocol 331 Nightstalker. He must have gotten a hold of some of the highway security footage. You could barely see us in the shadows.

"Somehow, you have developed a peculiar style for the hidden strategies. Relax, you aren't in trouble. While in school you show a similar style to the one we teach here. Yet you also have this one. This leads me to think that you have been secretly training in a different manner than what we teach." He said smiling gently.

My teammates looked guilty.

I sighed. "It's true, Professor. I've been training my team in a... different fashion than everyone else's. We have our own practices separate from our peers."

"How long have you been doing this?"

I paused and thought. "Since about a week into the school year. Mostly during extra free time."

He nodded.

"Well, it certainly is impressive to see such a large boy move with such precision and silence." Peyton demurred. It was true. My team was very adept and took to my lessons like fish to water. Even Peyton, which was strange for his size.

"This extra training of yours has provided a unique opportunity for us. You see, your sister team, team RWBY has been assigned to the Southeast. I bent a few rules to get them there, since they'd end up there either way... much as I expected you to do. But team RWBY does not have this... skill you have developed. So I sent them in as the cover group."

My brow crinkled. Cover group?

"Simon, please show yourself." Oz asked to seemingly no one.

Suddenly, there was a man behind Oz leaning against the wall. My teammates jumped except for me but I had known he was there.

He was average looking. At least twenty five to thirty years old.

He had tousled sandy brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a smattering of freckles on his face. His body was lean and long, like an acrobat but I sensed whipcord strength in him. He wore what looked like dark camouflage armor and silent soft boots. Across his chest, two bandoliers of throwing knives and at his hips were two longer blades.

He smiled. I eyed him carefully. This was the kind of man that, except for the clothing, you would pass during the day and not notice. His face doesn't stick to the brain, there isn't anything incredibly special about him.

He was forgettable and that made him dangerous.

"Team DEEP, meet your Huntsman, Simon Altrich. Simon, meet your first year team." There was a little bit of disdain in Simon that set me off him. I didn't like him at all.

"A pleasure." He said. Even his voice was not too high nor deep. Forgettable.

"Ozpin usually doesn't ever assign me first year shadows nor any shadows at all. This will be an experience for all of us, I suppose." He said, meeting my eyes.

Oz sighed internally and felt anxious about this particular Huntsman.

"Simon, if you cannot tell, is not like other Huntsmen. He has a very specific set of skills that I think will assimilate with your developing ones nicely. You and he will be assigned to the Southeast as a support team for team RWBY and an investigative squad."

That quiet average smile didn't leave Simon's face.

"You leave tomorrow. Simon here needs a bit of rest after such a long journey."

Simon looked at us. "We depart before dawn. I hate to waste time so be ready." He said neutrally.

"You are dismissed." Oz said.

I stood up slowly, leaning on Orchid for support and Elin pushed my chair in for me. I was following after my teammates when I heard these words slipped from that man's lips. "You didn't tell me this team had a cripple on it."

I don't know who's rage I reacted on but I reacted.

I gripped the end of Orchid in my right hand swung Orchid's full length in a horizontal arc as I twirled back and I nailed Simon in the face, breaking his nose easily. He fell to the ground.

Limping slowly I leaned over him, my silver hair falling over my left shoulder. "Don't EVER call me a cripple again. I don't care who you are or who you think you are. I. Am. Not. A. Cripple." I said softly without changing my facial expression. "You broke my nose!" He cried.

I placed my hand on the hand he held against his face and healed his nose in a few moments. I had broken it cleanly after all.

Simon looked stunned.

I stood back up, tall and proud and limped from the room. I met Oz's eyes and shrugged. It couldn't be helped.

I picked up on his disgruntlement. This was not how he thought our first meeting would go.

"We'll be at the dock bright and early, Mr. Altrich." I said evenly and we all slowly left the room. There was only the quiet click of the door behind us.

Elise sighed.

"Well. That went well."


	28. Chapter 28

***This chapter is a sex scene. If you don't want it, skip it. but if you want it, it's there.***

I had already packed and I was eager for the evening to begin.

Thinking of Simon's bandoliers, I decided I liked that idea. I'd see about getting a set in the future.

I helped my team pack and then Elise took a trip to Vale proper to see Daren.

I told them blushing that I would be spending the evening with Oz, much to the enjoyment of my team.

Peyton and Elin were looking forward to some time alone. I told them though that I would be back an hour before dawn to wake everyone and prepare. I would pick Elise up before four in the morning from Daren's apartment.

I was not going to be late. Especially since our oh so wonderful Huntsman said he hated time wasters. He'd soon find out how efficient team DEEP was. The sun was still above the horizon when I made my way to Oz's rooms.

I didn't have to request entry to Oz's office. He had programmed me into his office data so I could come and go as I pleased.

It warmed me that he was so comfortable.

Though I was mildly surprised when I walked in and saw him waiting for me.

"Hello, my dear." He said and I immediately stepped into his arms.

"I'm sorry you don't like Simon. He is difficult, admittedly, but he's the only one I could think that would suit-" I pressed my lips to his to shut him up. " I don't want to talk about that right now." I said. I was in my night clothes again, but I didn't bring anything with me. I would be up long before anyone would notice me leaving his office.

Together we went up to his room and my heart was racing when the ground door closed behind us.

I breathed in his scent and smiled. This was where I belonged. Where I was completely safe.

"How is your alcohol tolerance?" He murmured going to a liquor cabinet underneath his pantry. "If you had seen the bill I got the night I came back drunk, you would probably faint."

He laughed and dropped some ice into two glasses and poured a generous dose into each. "To your first assignment." He said.

_I have something else I'd like us to cheer to but that is for later._

This was perfect. Now I didn't have to figure out how to seduce a sober Oz. Just a slightly inebriated one, which would be much simpler.

That was my plan for the night.

I was going to seduce Oz.

My heart pounded incredibly fast thinking that.

"Dahlia, are you okay?"

I looked at him. He must have sensed a change in me. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine." I said faintly. His smile was understanding.

"I was nervous before my first assignment too."

_This isn't my first assignment. Not even close. If only I could tell you how many..._

"You nervous? Never. You're the great Ozpin, able to face down terrifying monsters and Glynda in one of her moods without flinching." I said laughing and subtly encouraging him to sip his drink.

"Oh, she isn't that bad..."

I just gave him a look. Had he never seen the woman when she got angry? Even I wouldn't dare face that.

We laughed together a talked for a little while longer. He asked me about his speech and reassured him that everyone found it moving. It pleased him. He didn't consider himself very good at speaking to large groups of teens and keeping their attention. I assured him, he had every eye in the room on him.

We both looked up at the stars at the same time as we finished our drinks.

The liquor warmed my tummy but otherwise had no effect on me.

"I should go… brush my… teeth- I mean hair- I mean no, yeah I meant teeth." I said awkwardly as he collected our glasses and put them away. He chuckled at my strange excuse. "That's fine. I was going to change into my sleep wear." He still wore his usual suit.

"Alright." I said a little too brightly as I got up and fled to the bathroom.

Was I brave enough for this?

I hadn't had another lover since Omar. Hadn't wanted one.

Sex had never been something I particularly enjoyed. It was painful and uncomfortable and left me with many sleepless nights thinking about how wrong it is to commit such an act with your father. I had learned the ways of pleasing a man but took no pleasure in them myself.

I closed the door behind me and I stared at it, biting my lip. I could hear him moving around the room.

I remembered the day in his office, of him gently kissing the whipped cream off my neck, and the heat that had flowed through me to one place in particular.

He was just on the other side of the door.

If I was only brave enough to cross it.

I ran a hand through my long silky hair then rubbed my jaw softly. I looked at my face in his little round mirror, noticing the roses in my cheeks and the brightness of my eyes.

It was now or never.

I straightened up, determined. Tonight, I wouldn't chain my sexual drive. Tonight I would embrace the never before dealt with emotions. I may get no pleasure from it but giving it to someone I loved would make it okay, right?

It began as a trickle as I approached the door. I yanked it open and my stomach clenched.

"Dahlia?" He said.

I just stared at him. He wore his long pajama pants but he had yet to put his shirt on. His spectacles were on the side table, next to my sketch album.

His physique was impressive. As Professor Port has let himself go after retiring from being an active Huntsman, Oz had retained his strong, muscular body. Without the spectacles and the formal suit, he looked much younger than he usually did.

And covered with scars. Oh, the scars I could see on his body...

Looking at his well sculpted abdomen that trickle became a stream. My blood heated up and my heart pumped faster. My stomach began to relax.

His pajama pants hung low on his hips.

And wrapped around his left forearm was a long, silver ribbon. My ribbon. I hadn't seen it since I had left it fluttering in the tree in the garden.

"Dahlia?" He said confused, setting his shirt down and staring at me.

I couldn't speak. My throat was dry and my skin felt too tight.

That delicious unfamiliar torturous heat liquefied between my legs.

"Dahlia, what's wro-"

I crossed the room in a few painful strides and slammed my lips into his with a savagery I didn't think I would've felt anywhere but a battlefield.

That stream became a raging river as I tasted the liquor on his tongue.

He tried to break the kiss. "Dahlia, I-"

I wasn't having any of that.

I wrapped the fingers of my right hand in his hair, the other I rested on his bare back and used to pressed the full length of my body against his.

My body was on fire with need.

The liquor in his system heated his blood and he kissed me back hard. His arms wrapped around me and pressed me tighter to him.

When we came up for air, I reached pulled back a little and saw with some interest the hard nipples that showed through the thin fabric of my night gown.

My lust was like a living thing inside me.

Tonight, I wanted to be _selfish_.

One of the thin straps of my gown had fallen down my shoulder, showing a goodly portion of the soft flesh it barely hid.

"D-Dahlia, are you sure? I mean..."

A slightly feral growl rumbled in the back of my throat. It was like the animalistic side of me had fully come to the surface in the wake of my carnal emotions. That was a side of me I had repressed for so long, I rarely felt it even though I was a Faunus.

"I've never done anything like this. I don't know how to Dahlia." He took a few steps back till his calves pressed the back of his bed.

The growl changed to a rumble deep in my chest. He went to pull my strap back onto my shoulder but my hand stopped his. I lowered the strap again. Then lowered the other and gently let the silk slide right down my voluptuous body.

"Then let me teach you." I purred.

I think he gulped but his eyes were squarely focused on my no longer clothed body. The only thing I wore were the conservative black underwear and my hair, which spilled over my shoulders and down my back, waving and curling delicately over my curves.

One curl curled enticingly near my left nipple. They stood at attention at the tips of my round breasts. Omar had particularly liked how they felt.

He stared at them and I pushed them forward for his inspection.

His feelings grew harder to control as his body responded to my body.

His eyes wandered from the top of my silvery head, down my elegant neck and the slightly protruding collarbones down the nicely rounded breasts to the perfect hourglass firm almost muscular curve of my waist down to my wide round hips and the fleshy roundness of my buttocks. Down my muscled shapely legs and my tiny feet and then all the way back up.

His eyes passed briefly over the scars on my body. Normally, my Healing left no scars but in some cases, there is a reminder left behind. There was a thin line down on my left knee, where my new calf and foot had grown and on my right thigh was a silvery lattice work of scars that had barely healed oh so long ago.

His eyes traced the beauty of my stark black tattoos.

"By every star, Dahlia you are the most beautiful woman alive." He said, with a husky voice that sent delightful shivers over my skin.

He wanted me. I could feel it.

I wanted him. He could feel it though he was no empath. It was a heavy feeling in the air.

I took another step forward, almost toe to toe with him.

"I love you." I whispered, sliding my hands up his muscular stomach onto his shoulders. "I-I love you too." He said before I oh so gently pressed my lips to his.

He closed his eyes and took a shaking breath in.

I pressed the length of my near bare body against his.

Where our skin touched, it grew very hot.

I could feel his heart beating in time with mine.

His hands were on my shoulder blades.

I pressed my right leg between his and I pulled my lips back for a moment to look innocently into his brown eyes. He stifled a moan and blushed. I didn't like that he stifled it, so I pressed my leg up higher onto the stiff member on my leg.

That elicited the reaction I wanted.

I kissed him again but this time, it was not gentle at all.

His knees bent and he sat down on the bed.

I was thankful. My leg hurt.

I kept my lips to his, my tongue moving with his as I climbed onto his lap and straddled him.

He put his hands on my hips and I tangled my fingers in his soft downy hair.

Normally I would have been embarrassed at the liquid heat between my legs, but my mind was so fogged with pleasure I could've cared less.

The firmness that pressed onto the sensitive mound between my leg sent wild fissions of heat through my body and I could feel a hot dampness getting wetter between my thighs. I moaned and the sound set something primal off inside Oz.

He pressed my hips further down onto his clothing caged member and kissed down my jawline till he touched the soft skin of my neck. His tongue caressed the skin before he bit down a little harder.

It felt too good. I opened my mouth and groaned. He used his teeth to hold me in place while his tongue played with the captured skin. But he never bit me too hard. It was pure pleasure. There was none of the pain I remembered during foreplay.

I arched my back, thrusting my soft breasts near his face. He took the invitation to suckle and caress the fleshy mounds.

I knew generally what made me hot and bothered, but I was curious as to what would do such things to Oz.

I drew his head back and reciprocated his moves, trailing delicate kisses down his face to his neck. His hands ran up and down my back, from my hips to my shoulders blades.

I always had to be wary of my fangs. Omar had once beaten me for biting just a little too hard.

He reacted similarly to me when I kissed, licked and gently bit his neck, but I got an interesting reaction when I breathed on his ear by accident.

I smiled and slid a hand down to his neck, gripping his jaw and turning his head to the side. He drew in a ragged breath and crushed me to him as I used my tongue to suckle on his ear lobe and trace the inside curve of his ear.

Yet even as he squirmed, he couldn't escape my knowing tongue. It was a rush knowing I had power over him. I had always played the submissive and I found it a little arousing to be dominant instead.

Sex was another area that I had been well trained in by my Father.

When I tired of playing with his ear and he had squirmed sufficiently to have me almost writhing on his lap, I took the next few steps in the game.

I released his jaw and once again kissed down his neck, but this time I kept going. I began to slide out of his lap, hooking my fingers in the waistband of his pajama pants and his underwear, pulling them down as I came, always kissing. I kissed his own pebbled nipples and the defined muscles of his stomach, and a kiss on each hipbone.

By the time I was on the floor, kneeling before him, his garments were flung somewhere near my nightgown.

I was pleased to see he was well endowed.

I tilted my chin down and looked up into his eyes demurely through my silver eyelashes.

This drove him mad, seeing my face so close to his manhood, knowing what I had in mind. I had a smile on my lips as I traced a finger down its hard length from base to tip and back up.

His hands balled up in his comforter.

"You little minx." He said hoarsely. I looked back up at him, using my upper arms to press my breasts together. "Who me?" I said, taking his manhood in my right hand. The skin was hot and silky beneath my fingers. "Yes, you. Such a tease-" His sentence ended in a groan as I took him into my mouth.

I hadn't done it in a while, but it came back to me slowly. Move your head, watch your teeth, move your tongue, move your hand, breathe, take it to the back of your throat, gag, do it again, breathe, keep moving.

He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands, so I picked them up and put them on my head, where they tangled in the silver mass of my hair. He moaned and groaned with pure pleasure and I got pleasure from his.

I massaged the two sacks on the base of his shaft and his hands jerked me down. I worked not to choke.

It took a little but finally his muscles coiled and he groaned as he released his semen into the back of my throat. I swallowed again and again till it stopped. It was salty and I sucked his member clean and then pulled back and licked my lips.

Omar had always enjoyed watching me do that.

Oz moved to pull down the canopy but then thought better of it. I was happy that he would let the stars see us together. The sun was now very deep below the horizon and the darkness was thrown across the sky. The sunset cast its bloody light upon us.

Illuminated every terrible scar across his body.

He picked me up off the floor and laid me on the bed.

I expected him to take me then but he had decided he wasn't done with foreplay.

It threw me off. Omar had never reciprocated the foreplay action. It was my duty to please him.

Oz kissed me deeply, wondering at the salty taste in my mouth before kissing me tenderly down my face, across my collarbones and on my round shoulders, lavishing some attention on my breasts before kissing me down my perfect stomach, nibbling on my hip bones before grabbing my black underwear with his teeth and pulling them down.

For some reason, this was highly erotic.

He had the black underwear in his teeth and he smiled a very wolfish smile at me. The blood red light shone valiantly across his face, shading and contouring it till he looked like some kind of heathen God. Then the darkness came over but moonlight shone.

The moonlight illuminated his fierce features and the contours of his body in a silvery light, very different from the light of the dying sun. I bent my knees together in a semblance of modesty that he found arousing. He enjoyed being submissive earlier but now the dominance was rising in him. I didn't mind at all. It was beyond attractive.

His dominance was tempered with love and I felt his possessive protectiveness and smiled.

He laid my black panties to the side and gently gripped my knees and pulled them apart. There lay the dark silver triangle of hair that grew at the crux of my thighs.

I didn't understand till he lowered his face between my thighs.

"Oh!" I cried in surprise and pleasure.

I'd never had this before.

It was warm and wet and oh so delicious. Without meaning to, my hands went to his head and he wrapped his arms under and around my thighs and held me still with the strength of his arms. He liked it when I squirmed as much as he liked holding me still, and almost as much as I liked it.

His tongue pierced my core and I cried out when he suckled on my hooded lady. And then he slipped a finger inside as he did it and I could've sworn the starlight flared.

He had a slightly smug smile as he kissed his way back up to my face once I had come hard. "There is no way you've never done this before." I said faintly. I was trembling and he settled his warm weight on top of me. He kissed me and I could taste myself on his tongue.

"I've never been with another woman. But a lonely man does have fantasies." He said with a smile, tracing my face with his fingers. I captured the digits in my teeth and licked them clean.

I almost blushed. I tasted like blackberries.

"My one goal for the few hours we have left-" He said, positioning the tip of his member at my entrance. "Is to make sure when your mission is over-" He put his forearms beneath my shoulders and propped himself above me and began to move his hips in. His tip entered me and I moaned with impatience. There was a tide building inside me and there was no way for me to release it myself.

"You come running back." he whispered before pushing himself all the way inside me.

It hurt a little at first and it took a few moments for my body to stretch out to accept his full length but it was wonderful.

My hands clasped his shoulders and I closed my eyes.

I enjoyed the sounds he made and the intense pleasure that mingled with mine pulsed through our Auras.

His thrusts started of slow and careful, allowing my body to make me slicker and accustomed to his size.

I never knew sex to be so enjoyable.

By mistake, I dug my fingernails into his skin and pulled them down his back.

The pain he felt somehow added to his pleasure. He liked being scratched.

How interesting.

Our breathing was harsh and our heart beats fast.

Then he picked up the pace a bit. I moaned encouragingly and moved my hips to help him reach that molten core inside me that he kept stoking. It was a fire in my belly that warmed me to the tips of my toes.

He grunted and his face was hard with passion and lust and intense concentration.

"Faster!" I called and he answered.

He took his left thumb and pressed it into my hooded lady, and played with her, which made me scream with pleasure.

It was like my body was an instrument and with every thrust and twitch of his fingers he was playing it.

His muscles coiled again and he thrust harder and faster, putting a hand on my hips to stabilize himself. He was pushing me closer and closer to the edge where I didn't know if I would fall or if I would soar.

This wasn't how I remembered sex being. I remembered it hard, fast and painful for me.

Nothing like this at all.

The time passed and I had no idea. I was lost in the feeling of Oz moving inside me.

The fire beneath our skins stoked higher and higher before my body convulsed around his. I wrapped my legs tight around his waist, holding him in place and my arms wrapped around his shoulders and I came with the force of a tsunami.

I fell of the edge inside me and flew.

He poured himself into me and for a moment, we were nothing but quivering flesh and heavy breathing.

Then he pulled himself out of me and face planted in the pillow next to me

"Wow." He murmured. I had momentarily lost my voice. I was trying to pull my body back down from the stars.

"I won't come running back." I said.

He pulled his head up and looked at me. I turned my head so I could meet his eyes. "I'll come flying."

His smile was all I needed.

Slowly we both stood up leaning on each other for support and we somehow got to the bathroom.

He got in the shower and I decided to join him.

His shower was incredible. The wall facing inward was made of opaque stone while the other wall, floor to ceiling, of course, was still the dust infused glass. The view was truly a sight as I could see the glow of Vale from there and it was interesting to think that I could see it but no one could see us.

"Dahlia, what are-" I kissed him as I stepped into the spray with him. "Saving water." I said. He smiled again and I admired the steam as it curled over his body. He did the same.

I let the hot shower water pound on my head before pulling back so he could do the same. My hair was a thick, heavy wet mess of dark silver that hung all the way to my butt.

"Here, I'll do you and you can do me." He said, picking up the soap.

I blushed. This was also new. The receiving as well as giving.

He gently soaped up my skin from my neck all the way to my feet. As he kneeled down to get to my lower legs, he kissed the dark silver hair between my legs. I ran my fingers through his wet hair lovingly and he came back up and turned me around to soap my back. His scarred, calloused hands felt nice against my wet skin.

I giggled as he soaped the ticklish place on the backs of my knees.

Then I stepped under the spray to wash off. "Your turn." He said handing me the soap.

I hesitated before I rubbed the soap in my hands and began at his neck and shoulders like he had.

It was wonderful to run my hands over the muscles I had previously been too self-conscious to explore. _This whole man is mine._

He gazed at my face and felt such tenderness looking at my expression.

I continued down his impressive physique, shyly kissing the tip of his member before going back up and he turned around so I could do his back.

I turned bright, bright red at the claw marks down and across his back.

"I'm so sorry." I mumbled. "Don't be. I like being marked as yours. Besides yours wouldn't be the first set of claws to mark me." He said laughing.

I didn't laughed. My hands roamed over every ridge on his body. Perhaps before I had been too fogged by lust to notice the true battlefield of scars my love's body was. Below his chin, there were very few places that my dear was not scarred. Massive claw marks raked down across his back, across his chest and abdomen, down his hips and thighs. There were bite marks of every shape and size. Burn marks covered his back as if someone had thrown a pot of coals at his back. On his neck were deep jagged scars that looked to be from a serrated dagger.

How many encounters had he survived? His scars were a testament to his infallible strength and the sorrow and fear he always felt inside when I wasn't there.

"You know, you're always dressed in your formal suit, no one can see how strong you are." I said as he washed off the suds. He laughed. "You're one to talk."

I raised an eyebrow and reached for the shampoo. "Ah, ah. Mine." He said, grabbing the bottle before I could and pouring a generous amount into his hand while turning me around.

He started at the ends and lathered up the heavy mass of hair. It was so luxurious I was sighing with the feeling of it. "Even when you're dressed as a powerful Huntress, you still give off an aura of 'I'm safe', 'I'm weak', 'I couldn't hurt anyone if I tried'. And then you go and do like what you did to James' favorite student at the dance. You use it, just like I do, to make people lower their guard. A secret advantage over anyone you meet. Only I give off the impression 'old school teacher', 'harmless old man'."

"You are not old!" I cried. He laughed. "I'm really not." I sighed. "But it makes people think that I'm no threat. Just like you do with your 'I'm an injured little girl' routine I see you pull on people." I said and I could hear the smirk.

I smiled. "So you've figured me out."

His fingers massaged my scalp. "Not at all. You always keep me guessing. You're still a mystery to me. A wonderful, frustrating mystery." He kissed the spot on my neck where it became my shoulder.

That spot in particular was very sensitive to me. Therefore it was Oz's favorite place.

"Rinse."

I stepped back and let him rinse my hair out. He took as much enjoyment in it as I did. His strong fingers massaged the suds out and he poured conditioner in his hand and massaged that into my hair.

I grew sleepy. My body was sated and languorous and now I was just sleepy.

He rinsed out my hair and washed his own quickly and we stepped out of the shower together. He wrapped me and my heavy hair in towels, dried himself off and sat me down where I began to doze.

He bustled around the room and suddenly he was shaking me gently. 'C'mon darling. Stand up." He said unwrapping me.

He slipped something on me that was not my nightgown and guided me to the bed.

He had dressed in his night clothes and changed the sheets. I was wearing a white button up of his.

I hugged it tightly and he felt a surge of possessive pride. It made him feel good to see me wearing his clothes. I was too tired to figure out why.

He set an alarm for me, set for two hours from then and we settled down comfortably entangled together.

"I never knew sex could feel so good." I mumbled. Oz got very serious. "That wasn't sex, Dahlia. The term I think is 'making love'. I'm not Omar. We are vastly different than him." I nodded agreeing. "You're much, much better."

I had my head against his chest, where I could listen to the soothing rhythm of his heart. "I love you, Oz. I love you so much." I said as I began to fade. "I love the way you feel with me. I love the way you make me feel so safe and wanted. I love your smile and your scars and the way you smell." I inhaled deeply.

He cuddled me closer. "As I love you, darling, mysterious Dahlia. I love you with all my heart, body and soul. And I will never ever stop loving you." He said kissing my forehead.

"Never ever say goodbye." He murmured before he fell into deep sleep.

I was awake a little longer, my arms and legs wrapped tightly around his body as his were around mine. I could almost feel my soul tangling with his deeper as we lay there.

The thoughts that attacked me almost brought me to tears.

I hugged him tighter and choked back the tears of sadness.

I loved him more than anything.

And those I loved were in the greatest danger.


	29. Chapter 29

I woke up a few minutes before the alarm. I wanted to go back to sleep, but my internal alarm clock demanded that I rise. The idea of Simon Altrich beating me to the landing dock forced me awake.

Oz had his back to me and my arms were wrapped around his chest and my legs were wrapped around his waist.

I laughed internally. I have abandonment issues clearly.

I carefully untangled myself from him. I didn't want him to wake up.

I got up and looked at his sleeping face.

He was so handsome.

I took his Scroll and opened it to record mode.

I put it on a shelf and stood back. It was dark but the recording would still capture me as if it was daylight.

His button up was still on me and it reached my mid-thigh, his sleeves were too long for my arms and the right side slid down and exposed my shoulder. I knew my hair was a mess but I knew he wouldn't care.

I smiled into the camera.

"I love you, Oz. I promise I'll be careful. Be safe while I'm gone. I'll see you soon." I said before clicking the recording off.

It wasn't goodbye. It was see you soon.

I grabbed my nightgown and Orchid and left Oz's rooms quiet as a ghost.

Peyton and Elin were still naked and sleeping in each other's arms.

Apparently all of team DEEP had enjoyed themselves last night.

I checked the clock and decided to finish cleaning up myself before I woke them. Then I would head to town and pick Elise up. And a few other things.

My hair was hard to brush out but I got all the tangles out of it and dressed in my daily attire.

I found that Oz had left a large hickey right on the side of my neck and one in his favorite spot the left side of my neck where my neck met my shoulder.

_Oops._

My gorget covered the hickey on my neck and I just hoped that my top would kind of cover the other one.

Once I was ready, I turned on the lights. "Elin, Peyton. Wake up. Time to get ready to leave." I said, startling the two boys into awareness. They blushed. "It's not like I haven't seen you naked before. C'mon, get up and shower. I'm going to pick Elise up. I want you ready by the time I get back." I said crisply.

Elin dashed into the bathroom and Peyton stretched. "Don't want to be late for our first mission with Mr. Altrich." He said sarcastically.

"No, we don't." I said back before leaving.

I limped to the transporter I had requested yesterday and quickly made my way to my safe house.

It was an old, old abandoned little warehouse that I had claimed as my own, when I first came to Vale. It was there I had left most of my last life behind me.

There, in the safe were the remnants of my past. The remnants of Faceless.

I walked inside shivering and I closed my eyes. I needed to be brave.

I undid the safe's lock and pulled out the clothes inside.

The clothes I wore as an assassin when I undertook missions. The special body suit that rendered me genderless. The long gloves. The above thigh high boots that never betrayed a footfall. The black hood. And the most recent addition: my old mask.

The clothes I packed into a small bag to take with me.

The mask I held in my hands and stared at for a little while.

This was the face of the nightmares of all of Remnant. Everyone was afraid of Faceless. Truly, Faceless was nothing but a weapon. No face, no voice, not even a gender. I had killed and tortured countless people; young or old, rich or poor, male or female, human or Faunus. It hadn't mattered. I had had orders.

With shaking hands, I turned it and pressed it to my face.

I stared out through the silvery eyeholes, like I had done many, many times. I looked out and saw death. So much death.

The mask only looked bare. The eyes holes were thin metal perforated with invisible holes. From the front it looked blank but I could see perfectly through it. The same went for the indistinct nose holes.

It had been my thirteenth birthday present from my Father.

I carefully placed it back in the safe. There it lay with every scrap of paperwork ever written about me and my assignments and my old tools of the trade that I couldn't look at without shivering and the dagger that had been plunged through my back.

I shut the safe and locked it along with all the terrible memories it brought in its wake.

There was a reason you have a separate set of clothes for assassinations. You never want to wear it again once you've killed in it. That's why Elise, Elin and Peyton had packed their own 'mission gear'.

We all knew what mission we were speaking of.

I left the warehouse and went to pick Elise up from Daren's house, only to find her dressed and ready to go.

"Daren kept me on time. He had me up, showered and dressed so that I'd be ready when you came." She said happily and Daren laid an arm around her shoulder. Their happiness eased some of the pain in my chest.

"Be brave and be safe you two. Look out for each other and the other two. Or else." He said dramatically. He kissed me on the cheek and gave Elise a more intimate kiss.

Then we climbed into the transporter and I drove it away.

"How do you feel?" I asked. "Good. Nervous." She said in the passenger seat. "Did you and Daren..." I looked at her from the corner of my eye. She blushed and gave me the tiniest nod. "Good for you. Team DEEP enjoyed themselves last night." I said with amusement coloring my voice.

"Excellent." She said, grinning crazily.

We spoke of our two missions. One, shadowing Altrich and protecting team RWBY. Another, investigating the SouthEast quadrant for criminal activity and doing whatever we can to put a hold on their plan. And all this while avoiding detection.

All in all, we agreed, we had given ourselves a very daunting task.

Back at Beacon, Peyton and Elin were putting the last of their armor on.

I had showed them how to travel light so there were just four small backpacks on the floor.

Everything else was stored on our person in pouches and packs belted to legs and waists.

Along with extra weapons.

"I don't know why I need these. I specialize with Lightning and Strike." Elin said as I slid knives into the tops of both of his boots and two in the stomach sheathes I had bought everyone.

I outfitted my team for battle.

Peyton didn't complain, but he saw the reason for my caution and understood my fear. He knew how protective I was.

He buckled Tech Slash on his arms. Before I found out his Semblance I had assumed Peyton's weapons were just to utilize his massive strength, but now I knew better.

His weapons were highly technological.

Similar to a Scroll, the panels on his inner arm could be used to hack any system and many other functions. Together we upgraded his weapons so that the wicked blades that curved with his outer forearm could be retracted inside the gauntlets. Made it safer to walk next to him.

Elise finished honing Serenity and slid the massive weapon onto her back. She was also bristling with weapons including two stilettos hidden within her braided bun. They looked like decorative hair ornaments but Elise had become pretty effective at putting them through the eye of the anatomical practice dummies I 'borrowed' from the school for our practices.

We had added more armor to the twins. Peyton and I had coerced them into purchasing some lower body armor and some more upper body.

Elin still had his white armor and Elise's was black, but now along with the chest plate, back plate, and the shoulder plates, now they had vambraces on their forearms and upper arms, thigh plates for the back and front of their thighs, and greaves that covered their calves and shins.

Peyton already had full armor and I didn't wear armor at all.

And all of us had our pitch black gear that had already felt the hot stain of blood.

We were all still convincing Elise to upgrade Serenity a bit.

When we were ready to go we left our clean room. After closing the door, I was surprised to find team JNPR and Sun and Neptune in the hallway.

Team JNPR, Sun and Neptune had come to say good luck.

Everyone looked sleepy. "C'mon, we don't want to be late." I said to the quiet hallway.

Together, in a mass of jumbled limbs trying to walk properly, we made our way to the docking station that was lit with stadium lights for the early pickups.

I looked around and Felt around but Simon Altrich was not there.

I turned to my friends smiling. They needed to get back to bed soon if they were going to be ready for their early morning wake ups.

"Keep them safe, Jaune." I said hugging him tight. He was afraid of failure and I eased his fear and replaced it with determination and confidence. He needed to be brave.

"I won't let you down, Mommy Quicksilver."

"If you need me, I'm only a click away. I can be there in an hour tops." He looked confused. "How?"

I laughed. "You act like I've never hotwired and stolen an airship before." He felt reassured.

I kissed Pyrrha and Nora's cheeks. "Bring back many tales of your adventures for us." Nora took to that idea excited and Pyrrha smiled. "Stay safe." I whispered.

The two girls and Jaune hugged everyone else and then began to walk back inside.

I hugged Ren tightly. "Watch out for them." I whispered. He nodded and I raised his quiet confidence to a good level. "Happy Hunting, Mommy Quicksilver." He said before quickly hugging everyone else.

Then they were gone back inside out beloved Beacon. A peculiar tightness filled my chest. A mixture of pride and fear for my friends.

"They'll be fine, Dahlia. You've taught them well." Elise said wrapping an arm around my waist. I smiled.

I had to learn to trust them to keep themselves alive.

Sun and Neptune hugged us each tightly then turned to go back to their dorm. They didn't report for another six or seven hours. "Stay out of trouble you two!" Sun grinned in the Sun way and Neptune snorted.

"Us? Trouble? You're kidding. You guys are the reason we get in trouble!"

Elise laughed.

"Then stay out of trouble till we get back!" Peyton bellowed

They nodded laughing and I felt their mixture of joy and trepidation. I raised their feelings high and we waved as they disappeared. Then we were the only ones there.

"Nice. He's late." Elin muttered angrily, looking up at the dark sky and the moon that hung high.

I didn't care. We were here on time.

I felt his presence before I saw him.

His Semblance must be something like invisibility or something. I could feel his emotions coming from a spot in front of us but I saw no one.

I cleared my throat.

"Good Morning, Huntsman Altrich." I said and my team jumped as the crisp coolness in my voice.

Then he was there in front of us. As if the screen that had been hiding him was suddenly dropped.

"Ah, good morning Ms. Derivalle. Ms. Thayet. Mr. Thayet. Mr. Summers." He said uncomfortably. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was more tired than I had thought." He said, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

I looked him over with my Semblance. He was more than tired. The little sleep he had gotten had not restored his energy levels.

"If you provide me the coordinates, I can navigate with Peyton while you get some more rest." He began to protest. "Mr. Altrich. You need more rest. I will not be lead about on a hunt with a half dead from lack of sleep Huntsman."

My voice was like a velvet whip.

He thought long and hard. "We are headed for a site a little outside Mountain Glenn."

Peyton stiffened and I felt uneasiness and fear from him at the name of our target location. I soothed his emotions and filed away the knowledge for later.

I nodded to the Thayet twins. "These two are from those parts. We'll find it no problem. Team DEEP. Move out." I said.

I still didn't like Altrich.

I walked up to him, my eyes boring into his. "There is a small bedroom inside the airship. Go make use of it. I'll wake you when we arrive." I murmured, leaning on Orchid.

He nodded. "Thank you. I apologize for my insult last night. I should not have said that."

I smiled. "Even if you hadn't said it, I would have felt it." He crinkled his brow. "I'm an Empath. My Semblance is Physical, Mental and Emotional Healing. I'll give you a run down when we start camp tonight." I said, guiding him up the platform.

"Go." I said as I grabbed my team and headed to the command pit. He slowly made his way to the bedroom and I sensed his immediate unconsciousness.

There was no way I was letting him drive. He probably would have fallen asleep midair.

"Jeez, Dahlia. You mother even the people who are in charge of you and you don't like! What is wrong with you?" Elin said grabbing the handle swinging from the ceiling. Peyton was already in the second seat. I sat in the driver's seat and took us up.

"Give me the rundown on Mountain Glenn." I said. Elise pulled out her school Scroll. "Mountain Glenn. Once a fairly prosperous town in the far Southeast quadrant of the Kingdom of Vale. The terrain outside of the city is wild forest, deep caves. Grimm count is dangerously high. Mountain Glenn is known as one of the kingdom's greatest failures." She read off. So team RWBY would be making camp within the borders of the city while we would make camp in the forest. _Aiya._

"Once it was an extension of Vale. But it was overrun by enormous amounts of Grimm. It was sealed off from the rest of the city by the government, leaving many people for dead. It is a dark reminder of the dangers just outside our walls." Elise said. Elin and Elise both got a bone chilling shiver down their backs. Vasilius was one of the four communities that were brave enough to put down roots so close to the border. Nothing had ever happened to cause concern but it was still unsettling to be so reminded of our vulnerability.

"If the criminals we hunt are in the Southeast as they said, Mountain Glenn sounds exactly like where they would choose to set up." Peyton said, plugging more information into his database on his arms. Those panels were hooked up to his personal Scroll. Any information he put in one would also be accessible by the other.

Pretty useful. I took notice of his shaky hands as he typed and wondered at it

"Take a load off for a little, my dears. We're taking a different route than what was planned." I said, turning the wheel. The twins looked startled but soon caught on.

"If we are going in on a shadow mission, then we need to vanish."

That word was an important code to our team. Vanish meant no trace. Silent and hidden.

Peyton plugged in something to the airship. Nothing happened. "I just erased our GPS signal. It's got a timer. It'll go off every 24 hours and then disappear again. Just in case something goes really wrong." Elise laughed. "What could possibly go wrong?"

I grinned at her.

I took a longer route than planned. It took a little over half an hour to finally reach where we planned on going. It was still black as pitch outside.

I was certain that no one had followed us.

I got a view of a large urban wasteland below us. "We're here." I said. "Mountain Glenn."

The twins turned to stare at it. It was something out of a horror movie. The buildings were skeletal, roads and such had fallen apart and it was maze like in design. I didn't need to look to see the roving bands of evil that haunted those streets. And with the shadows of night still clinging to it turn nightmarish.

Grimm were attracted to places of death, despair and terror. It was what they were.

Evil calls to evil. Grimm would lead us to our prey.

Peyton stalwartly refused to look out at the ruins.

"Peyton can you land us? I'll go wake Altrich."

He nodded stiffly and Elin took his seat. "Elise, prepare gear for touchdown." She nodded and went for our gear.

I made my way to the back and opened the bedroom door.

"Mr. Altrich? We're here." I said, into the darkness.

I walked to the bed and shook him hard. "Simon." I said forcefully and he shot awake.

"Where-"

"We're at the Forests of Mountain Glenn. We're finding a place to land the transporter for our time here." He stood up, looking rumpled. I directed him to the bathroom and strode out. "Found a safe zone, Dahlia. Landing in five." Peyton said using the speaker.

I shouldered my backpack.

Elise, when I nodded, opened the sliding wall door and we looked down. The grass waved crazily as the airship lowered itself to the ground. "Nice and easy, Peyton!" I called.

He landed softly and Elise jumped down, Serenity drawn. She quickly established a perimeter while the airship powered down.

"All clear." She called and we all stepped out into the darkness.

Altrich joined us shortly. "The perimeter is secure, sir." I said to him. He looked uncertain. "Ah, well, good. Got everything? I'm about to lock up ship. The Grimm won't bother it while it's here."

I nodded. "We'll be making camp closer to the city. Full alert now, team. We have officially begun."

Simon had no idea what to do so he locked up the airship. "Lead on, sir." I said to him. "Will you be alright keeping up?" He asked.

I just looked at him.

"Ah." He said turning away. "Kill all Grimm on sight. But try to be quiet about it." He called over his shoulder.

I sighed. Some leader he was.

I jerked my head in the direction he was walking and team DEEP began its slow trek. Altrich seemed to have no idea what he was looking for. Suddenly, I wasn't even sure we had gone the right way towards the city.

We didn't speak. On full alert, very few words needed to be said.

My leg ached fiercely but I ignored it like one ignores a particularly aggressive gnat in their ear.

We ended up in a line. Altrich in front, then Elise, then Peyton, then Elin and I brought up the rear.

Occasionally we saw a few Grimm but, they didn't see us.

They had no idea the walking feast had strolled past them.

"The city is up ahead." The message was passed back.

Carefully, since this place was so empty, I opened myself entirely.

I felt my four companions. But my reach wasn't long enough to instantly search out our prey nor feel the five other inhabitants in the city. It worried me that I couldn't sense team RWBY.

I could just feel the evil pressing just at the edge of my consciousness. The dark oppressive aura that drew the Grimm to it was like a shadow in the corner of my eye. There one moment but when I turned to find it, it was gone, hovering just outside my senses.

It made me more paranoid than usual.

I looked above the trees and saw the tops of the hollow buildings.

Altrich stopped. "Break." I nodded. "We're going up." I said. The team got it, Simon just looked at me funny. "Up in the trees. We're not staying on the ground unprotected. These trees are massive. There'll be plenty of places for us to camp for a little while. And if we do camp out here, we'll be sleeping in the trees." I said. He nodded carefully.

No wonder this guy never got assigned first year teams. Anyone with a lick of sense would run right over him.

And so we began to climb. Once we were sufficiently out of reach for most Grimm, I called everyone to a halt. "This is high enough."

Everyone plopped down and pulled out one of their rations.

"You know, everyone says these things taste awful. They're not really that bad." Elise said digging into hers.

Of course, with a Semblance like hers, she needed to consume large amounts of food to keep her energy levels up. So I ate what I wanted to eat and handed the rest to her. Even Peyton didn't eat as much as Elise.

"So you two are from the Southeast?" Simon asked hesitantly to the twins. Elise nodded but her mouth was full. "We live in Vasilius. A little further North of here within the borders with our mother."

"What about your Father?"

Elin stiffened and looked worriedly at Elise who went very still.

I stared at Altrich.

No one asks about the Thayet's father.

No one asks about my past.

No one asks about the Summer's family.

"I don't believe that's any of your business." Elin said quietly, resting his hand on Elise's shoulder. Inside, she was very cold.

"Mr. Altrich, perhaps now would be a good time to tell you." I said, grabbing his attention.

"We are not like other teams. We all have our secrets that we guard jealously. Be very careful with your queries to avoid offense." I said calmly.

I felt a little bad for the man. He was worse than I was with human interactions. He felt battered and overwhelmed and sufficiently worthless. He had no idea how to talk to us.

"What shouldn't I ask about?" He said desperately. I smiled kindly. "Family is a touchy subject to all of us."

"Dahlia doesn't like when you ask her about her life before she came to Beacon, so don't bother." Peyton said.

Altrich thought hard.

"So no family and no past." He said. We nodded. "Well, what is your Semblance, Ms. Derivalle?" He asked politely.

I smiled. "I'm a true Healer. I Heal physical, emotional and mental wounds. Because of this, I'm an Empath. I can read your emotions. And that's how fixed your nose. I Healed it." He touched the protrusion on his face carefully.

"She's Healed just about everyone at Beacon, one way or another." Elin put in.

"Elise here, her Semblance is Physical Strength." I said motioning to the tiny girl, finishing off the last of our meals. She waved and Simon looked long and hard at the blade strapped across Elise's back.

"She'd need it. I couldn't lift that sword if I tried."

Peyton looked at him sympathetically. "I've tried and it gave me trouble." Simon looked at Peyton's rippling physique and then at tiny, curvy little Elise with his mouth partially open.

"Peyton? Elin?" I said expectantly.

"Hmm? Oh, right. I'm a technology Semblance." He said shyly. Simon's interest in us was steadily growing. "And I'm like a Chameleon. I can blend into the background pretty much anywhere and as long as I don't move, no one can see me." Elin said quickly.

"Welcome to the team of misfits." I said amused.

"Truly, you are a mismatch patchwork of secretive teenagers." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not really good with people."

Elin snorted. "We noticed."

Elise punched him in the knee.

"No, he's right. In my line of work, I don't interact with people much."

Those words rang in my head.

"Eh, neither did Dahlia when she first showed up but it didn't stop her." Elise said packing away our trash. He looked at me funny. "You wouldn't have recognized her if you met her as she was her first day."

I stuck my tongue out. "It's true. Elise was my first friend." I looked fondly at my little blonde girl.

"I can't imagine." He murmured. I shrugged. That was me then. I was much, much better now.

"Now she can't help but mother and boss us around." Elin said grinning.

"Everyone at school calls her Mommy Quicksilver." Peyton said laughing. "I called her oh fearless leader." Elin crowed.

"Okay! Let's stop talking about me for a little." I cried as they began to overload him with information. My team laughed. Even Simon chuckled.

It was nice to see him warming to us.

"C'mon, we've got more ground to cover before daybreak." He said and we slid down the trunk to the forest floor.

Where we were met with a pack Beowolves.

Simon leaned against a tree.

"Show me what you got."

"Protocol 485." I called immediately.

Peyton picked Elise up and hurled her at the pack leader. Elise always loved that Protocol.

It took very little time between the four of us to decimate the pack. And we did it all without much noise except for the _shink_ of blades whizzing through fur and flesh and the quiet crack of Elin's whips.

When we finished off the last wolf, I wiped the blood off Orchid's blades before whipping her back into a staff. "Come, we must be away before more arrive." I said calmly before setting off towards the city.

Simon followed unobtrusively.

He and I traded places. I took point and he brought up the rear.

I felt strangely like this would be the case quite a bit.

He wasn't the leading Huntsman on this mission. I was.

I sighed internally.

It was going to be a long week.


	30. Chapter 30

I became aware of a buzzing feeling inside of me as we grew closer and closer to the city. It was strange and gave me a crawling feeling under my skin. There was something wrong.

I halted the team and felt their awareness jumped. I felt a rush of pride for my team.

"Something's wrong." I said softly and the message was passed back.

I looked up and counted the stars slowly while I searched for the source of the wrongness. "Dahlia?" Altrich called. "What's wrong?"

I felt the evil and it was closer.

But where?

I centered myself on my feet. "Weapons to hand." I commanded quietly.

They had done it before I had even uttered a single syllable.

Pain coursed through me and Peyton quietly whispered to Altrich. "Whenever you see Dahlia standing evenly on both feet, that is her signal. She only does that when danger is close." Everyone has their own little physical signal. My team had worked together so long that we knew the smallest physical movement that alerted everyone to danger.

Mine, of course, was centering myself on both my feet.

Elise's stance widened and her muscles coiled tightly.

Peyton's fists balled up.

Elin balanced himself on the balls of his feet.

We had no idea what Simon's signal was but when I commanded, he drew his short swords and held them easily in both hands. Studying his grip I came to the conclusion that he was ambidextrous.

I began walking quickly and quietly, all my senses bent on the feelings that called to me.

I didn't even hear my team behind me. I only knew they followed by the alertness that flowed through them, mixed with nervousness and grim anticipation.

It was still dark but like most Faunus, I could see as well at night as in day.

As we grew closer and closer to the city, the terrible feeling I had been vaguely feeling all day grew.

This place was tainted and I felt it reaching up to me through the soles of my feet.

Suddenly I felt Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss and Doctor Oobleck. In the city, and four out of five were asleep.

I calmed down but the evil was so close. "Team RWBY is safe." I murmured and the message was passed back.

I halted, my senses swinging directly East of where we were standing. I motioned the team in the direction and began moving quickly through the forests' undergrowth.

I didn't feel anything around me. I didn't even have my eyes open.

I just focused on the energy currents surrounding me.

"Halt." Altrich said quietly and that brought me to a full stop.

Only then did I notice the change in the air.

I had just about strolled into a deep, dark cave without knowing it.

I looked at the team and made the sign for I'm sorry. A fist rubbed in a circle over your upper chest.

We moved to the side of the cave so nothing would echo.

"We don't know what's down there." Elin whispered.

We all nodded. We honestly didn't know anything. We had only been here a few hours. Soon the sun would be rising and we'd have to take cover.

"I'll check the city really fast. Team RWBY is safe right now but there is something really wrong here."

Altrich looked at me funny and a stressed Peyton explained it to him in a few short sentences.

I closed my eyes and swiftly sent out the strands of my Healing Semblance in ever widening rings around me into the forest and the city.

My heart thumped.

I zoomed through abandoned streets and buildings and found team RWBY exactly how I'd left them. Except Blake was now on watch instead of Ruby. And there were two unfamiliar presences in the city that I could not identify. I prepared to follow them.

I kneeled down and put my hand on the ground for balance.

Annoyance. Frustration. A tinge of panic. Fury. Resentment.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. One strand of my Semblance had traveled through my hand into the Earth beneath me. It found a single, young girl. A Faunus by the feel. What was she doing underground?

I gasped and Elise was next to me in an instant. "Dahlia, what is it?"

"They are beneath us..." I breathed. Peyton paled and his heartbeat grew loud. "Peyton, what is wrong?" Elin said worried.

I opened my eyes and looked into Peyton's green eyes. He was visibly shaking and I had to stand and lay a hand on his arm, to calm him. What was it about the place that set easy-going Peyton on edge so much that he shook thinking about it?

He typed something into the panels on his right arm. We all moved farther away from the cave opening.

"Mountain Glenn was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time using aggressive perimeter defense and unique transportation to and from the inner Kingdom of Vale. But due to the lack of the many natural barriers that protect the Kingdom of Vale, Mountain Glenn was doomed to fail from the very start. And as the Grimm invaded, the people took refuge beneath the city in the elaborate tunnels and caves they had cleared out for the subways and completely cut themselves off from the surface. It was a last resort for survival. It worked for a short period of time. Until... Until one d-day, there was an enormous explosion. No one knows who caused it but it blew open an entrance into another cavern... filled with subterranean Grimm... it was a massacre. Only a few made it out alive thanks to the quick work of the Huntsman and Huntress that were stationed there. The rest..." Peyton took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "The Kingdom sealed of the caves and fenced off Mountain Glenn permanently. And below the streets of the city above, is the real Mountain Glenn... the world's largest tomb."

A single tear dripped from his right eye and Elin brushed it away.

No one wanted to ask the questions that I could feel coming from everyone including me.

This was one scar on Peyton's soul that I could not Heal. It still bled every time Peyton brushed against it.

But now was not the time to be having mental breakdowns. Now was the time for action. I closed my eyes again and put both hands on the ground. Hundreds of Strands shot through the Earth and I found what I had been searching for since we had touched down.

There were so many of them.

I should have thought about that because when I opened my eyes, I was laying on the ground.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

"I've found them. It's true. They are in the underground city. It's the White Fang. And others. I got a feel of team RWBY before I fainted. They are still above... still safe...There are so many of them." I murmured as Elise propped me up.

Peyton stared into nothing, memories floating before his eyes and I reached out a few strands to brush away the nightmares that had immobilized him. "Later Peyton. We need you now." I whispered and he nodded, helping me up. "I'm sorry." He said ashamed. Elin wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's waist. It was what Peyton needed.

"We have to go down there." I said, leaning on Orchid.

"She's right. I'll go scout first. Hide yourselves till I get back. Dahlia keep tabs on me."

I nodded and we watched as Simon activated his Semblance and he disappeared before our eyes. "When you reached the bottom of the cave, go left." I murmured.

I stretched a strand out to him and 'tied' it around his Aura.

We didn't hear him enter the cave. He was good at what he did.

Elin held Peyton for a little while, soothing him with his love and beating heart.

Elise sat with me, making sure I didn't faint again from the press of emotions that had overloaded me earlier. I explained to her that the only reason that happened was because I had opened myself fully to all the people down there.

She shuddered when I described what it was like when you let everyone in.

"It's kind of like this. Usually, when I'm not using my gift, I'm blocked off to everyone except the few people I'm nearest. That's why I can pick up on everyone's mood if they are in close proximity to me, even when I'm blocked. When I activate my Semblance, it's like reaching out and touching one person and I almost become a part of that person. With multiple people, like when I soothed everyone that one time after the Forever Fall incident, I divide myself up between everyone, using the strands of my Semblance like attaching strings. Yet, no matter what, there is still a part of me that is me. When I open myself up to all of those people, I literally divide myself down into all of those people. I am a thousand different feelings and personalities and it literally has driven me insane before. No one person can take the weight of everyone's emotions and still remain themselves. It's literally losing all of you in a press of people. Like being in a tiny elevator by yourself one minute, then fifty people are suddenly with you the next. You can't breathe and everyone is touching each other and you feel like you are slowly suffocating. I literally could drown myself in the burdens of an entire population. The cost would be my sanity and my Self. That's why I'm very careful when opening myself up. I didn't worry too much about it here because this place is deserted, but there is an entire city beneath us and I accidentally drowned myself in them, so I fainted. My body's way of protecting me from the overload. When I'm Healing though, whether body, mind or soul, I wrap a strand or a few strands around you and as I become a part of you, I ask your body or mind or soul to do what I want it to do which is Heal the injury. I coerce it to do what I want and then it does it."

She just stared at me funny. "Luckily, we're all mad here." She said quietly.

Elin came over and needed to talk to Elise. He felt edgy and twitchy inside. Dread filled his stomach and I sighed. This place was messing with my team.

Maybe that is the brilliance of setting up base here.

I shivered thinking about it. What if someone knew we would be here and had chosen this place because they knew it would mess with the heads of my team. I shook off the idea violently. I only knew one man who could've known such private information.

I scooted over to Peyton, who now just felt very numb inside.

This place was a poison in his soul.

Luckily, I was the one of the cures to this poison. Elin and Elise were the others.

I didn't say anything. I didn't need to. I already knew.

Now I had the answer to what happened to the Summer's family. Why Peyton had chosen to become a Huntsman of all things. A Huntress had saved his life, in the massacre. She just wasn't fast enough to save his parents or his siblings.

I just sat next to him and stared at the stars that had yet to fade for morning.

My slim calloused hand slipped into his enormous hand and he squeezed it tight. Not too tight but tight enough that he could feel the blood pumping through my fingers. He struggled to focus on the here and now, to see the living people he cared about that were right in front of them.

Because the phantoms he saw before his eyes were those that had him screaming awake sometimes in the middle of the night, when only I was awake.

The saddest part of all that, was each member of team DEEP had at one time or another had done the same thing. My team was full of traumatize teenagers doing our best to stay sane, while the nightmares that plagued us nibbled at the edges of our sanity.

There had been many screams from our room that we had never explained to outsiders.

And yet, blessing of all blessings there was my Semblance. My power to command a body, mind and soul to Heal itself.

The only one it didn't work on was me.

I brushed away the tangles of the phantoms and Peyton looked at me with undiluted gratitude. He didn't have to tell me what he saw. I didn't need to know. All I needed was to protect him from his own mind while he built up his own walls to keep them out.

My Semblance had never let me down.

"Do you think he's alright?" Peyton whispered. I nodded. Altrich was surprisingly calm as he swept through the dark tunnels. This was his element.

I delved deeper into his Self and got the answer I had been wondering since I met him.

He wasn't an assassin. Thank the Gods.

He was a scout. A really good one too_. Who do you send in first? The Flag bearer or the Scouts?_

"With a Semblance like his, he will be fine as long as he doesn't do something really dumb." I said, leaning my head back against the tree we sat against. Silence overtook us as we waited on the twins.

"Dahlia... why are you here?" He asked quietly.

I cracked an eye at him. "Hmm?"

"I'm just curious. I know you don't like it when people ask you about your life, but... why do you want to be a Huntress? Why are you here, in this godforsaken place in the middle of the night with a bunch of young idiots to take care of, risking your life for nothing? With a Semblance like yours, you could do anything, you could be anything you want to be. So why this?"

I thought about his question for a long time. It wasn't one I thought about often.

"You really want to know?" I asked softly.

He nodded and turned his head so he could look down into my dark blue eyes.

"Peyton... I've done some truly terrible things in my life. Things that nothing I do will ever fix. Everything I do, I do to balance the odds. To, if not fix the mistakes I've made, to make up for them. When I die and I kneel before the Gods to be judged, they will see the horrible things that I have done... but I also want them to see the good I've done to balance it. I was given the gift to Heal. But I was also raised up to kill. It's one of the things I'm best at. With such a combination of skills, there are two sides of the line I can stand on. I stood on one side for my entire life up until a year and a half ago. Now I want to stand on the other side. I want to stand in the light. And Huntsmen and Huntresses are the ultimate light. The noblest of warriors. They were the complete opposite of what I was. They were what I fought against. So I figured, if I truly want to leave behind that life, I should become the exact opposite of what I was. When I decided that, it took me a long time to get up the courage to come here. The man who saved me from that life I lived was a Huntsman and he told me that I had the makings of a great Huntress. I always thought that I'd never be able to be anything but what I was." I smiled at him. "And then I met all of you. You changed my entire world. Now I have something to fight for besides my own pitiful self. I have love and friends that I never dreamed I'd have. And I'll do anything and everything to protect that now that I have it. I now have honor, which is something I never had. I want to be a Huntress because there is nothing else I'd rather be."

I was a little embarrassed by my passionate response but it was something Peyton understood.

"That's truly incredible, Dahlia. Truly. I can't imagine the bravery it would take to literally turn your whole life around. But I'm glad you did." I grinned.

"This misfit band of traumatized idiots needs you to lead it. We've all become things we never thought we could be. We have become as you say, shadows in the night. The hidden blade against the enemies of our world. We are not the shining light of hope but we are the Beacon that is not seen but everyone feels."

I had never heard a truer statement of what team DEEP was.

It was my training, my influence that made us so much different than all of our other sister teams.

We would never be like team RWBY or team JNPR or team CFVY.

We would always be different.

* * *

A rustle and the twins joined us, Elin feeling strained and Elise feeling frustrated.

I smiled gently and went to work easing my friend's harsh feelings. Then we talked a little while longer. I felt good inside though. I had come to a simple truth and something inside me that had been broken for a long time settled back into its rightful place.

_I am a Huntress._

* * *

We waited a long time before I felt Simon sprinting back to us. I was on my feet instantly, Orchid in my hand. I made the sign for 'He's back' and the rest of them team joined me.

Simon ran out breathing heavily. "We haven't much time. You were right, oh Gods, you were right. There are so many down there. We can't possibly fight all of them. We are not prepared for that kind of force. And one other thing..." He said gulping down air.

I siphoned off some of my own energy to him to help him recover faster.

"The... little red-headed girl... Ruby Rose... she's been captured."

We all turned pale.

"H-How?"

He shook his head, regaining strength. "All I heard was there was a street cave in and she fell through, unarmed into an upper level of the base and was caught by two sentries. What I saw was the two sentries dragging the semiconscious girl through to the base to meet up with the 'boss', whom I identified as Roman Torchwick." I nodded. Nothing surprising except that Ruby had gotten captured.

_That would be bad._

I gently sent a thought towards the city. Three of four were asleep. Yang was awake on guard. I just couldn't nudge her enough to panic about Ruby. I was frustrated with myself for that.

"Well, what's the plan?" Elin asked. Everyone, including Altrich looked at me. I mentally smacked myself in the forehead. I had forgotten my pseudo leadership on our shadowing assignment.

"We need to get inside. We need to get Ruby out of their without directly interfering in her mission. Remember we aren't here technically. We need to do as much damage to their operation as possible without getting caught." I said, laying it all out there.

When I put it that way, it didn't seem like such a daunting task.

"I've found the center of their encampment. If Roman is anywhere, he'll be there." Simon whispered quietly. I nodded. "Good work. Show us."

Team DEEP quickly changed from our everyday battle gear into our other gear. The one that changed us from students at Beacon to a team of highly trained assa-

I pulled myself to a halt at this thought.

_We are not assassins._

I pulled on the molded matte leather body suit, the gloves, the boots and then I wrapped my hair and face up so only my eyes could be seen. The same with my whole team.

Simon pulled a hood up over his head and wrapped a scarf around his mouth and nose. "Follow me." He said and he went invisible. I went behind him then Peyton, Elin and Elise brought up the rear.

And we entered the darkness, yet we felt no fear.

Quieter than shadows, we slipped through the caves like oil through the darkness. I had a firm hold on Simon's Aura and I guided my team deeper and deeper into the snake pit.

What we found at the bottom caused even my heart to stop.

It was literally an underground city. Deserted except for its new inhabitants. I saw hundreds of Atlesian Paladins, and felt the press of hundreds of souls against my own.

I felt like I needed to laugh. _An underground crime network…_


	31. Chapter 31

Standing atop the massive building, Simon pointed out where he wanted us to go.

We covered our faces and weapons in hand then we leapt into the forgotten city.

It was quite beautiful if one could forget the death in the air and the horrible memories I knew lay here.

We bolted across the tops of buildings, almost flying toward the center of the city. Everyone was walled up and ready for anything. Even Peyton who had been a maelstrom of emotions earlier was totally cool.

"Faster." Simon hissed and we obeyed before he finished.

Inside, I was concerned. I had wanted time to observe, to know the enemy before we acted. I didn't want to throw ourselves in head first without knowing if there were rocks beneath the water.

Now we had no choice.

Orchid felt alive in my hand as we danced over the tops of buildings to the center of the city which was a sprawling railway system.

Everywhere the eye fell, there was the symbol of the White Fang and another that horrified me and made my insides quiver. Atlesian Paladins were all working hard loading a massive black train.

_That can't be good._

My eyes focused in on the man in the white coat and the girl in the red hood. Ruby tried once again to use brute force against him but her attacks proved ineffectual.

Ruby was thinking 'What would Yang do in this position?'. I gave the motion for Protocol 24: Blackbird. I halted where I was and my team spread out in a fan around me, finding their prime target zones.

I watched Ruby struggle against Torchwick and I felt the same burning yank on my gut.

_C'mon Ruby, hang in there._

My heart beat a little faster when she gave him the slip but he flipped his cane and I remembered about Melodic Cudgel's grappling hook.

It grabbed Ruby by the back of her hood and reeled her back.

I aimed a shot at his head and prepared to fire when an explosion shook my feet.

Gently, I sent my Semblance out and found out the source of the explosion. "Yang incoming." I murmured.

A few White Fang moved to go check it out when a larger explosion shook the ground.

"WHAT is going on here?!" Roman shouted. There was some screaming and firing of weapons. I felt my team leaping back. "Team RWBY's closing in." Elin whispered in my ear.

They crowded close to me to hear me. "Do what you can to get on the train. Peyton, take down as many of the Paladin's as you can. Everyone else. We've got to stop that train."

I couldn't see their expressions, I could only see the glittering of four pairs of eyes. Three pairs of brown eyes and a pair of green, all filled with an indescribable fire.

This is what we had been training for. This is what I had trained team DEEP for.

Then we were off. My feet barely touched the concrete as we moved through the darkness. I glimpsed team RWBY and their Huntsman and… a dog?

Doctor Oobleck held a weapon that to me resembled a baseball bat. It had a long handle with a grip at the bottom and then it widened into something like his thermos but extended, except a thermos usually didn't have flames licking from its mouth.

Simon was invisible but I felt him ahead of the group and when we reached the edge of the buildings before the train station, I called team DEEP to a halt to let Simon scout us a path.

As I looked, I watched Ruby leap onto Torchwick's head and shoved his hat around his eyes. He flung her away and she took off running. I could feel his rage deep in my chest.

"Somebody kill her!" He yelled as he lifted his weapon to fire. Suddenly there was gunfire everywhere.

I smiled watching Ruby dodge all of their shots. Most of those White Fang members must have been the newbies because they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn.

Torchwick's fury almost bent Melodic Cudgel in half. He gave orders to the Faunus behind him. Apparently, this Faunus wasn't recognizing that the time and place to question Roman was not that moment.

I motioned to go, while everyone's attentions were focused on the coming Huntsman and Huntresses. One by one team DEEP found our way onto the train.

"Simon, go up to the front of the train. See if you can't cause some malfunctions. Hurry." I murmured so quietly that I would have had trouble hearing it. Simon vanished down the tracks and I crept onto the final train car.

It was empty.

_What the…_

There was a screeching sound and I had to cover my sensitive ears. "Get to your places, we are leaving now!" Torchwick ordered. _Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go._

I moved quickly forward to the next car which was also empty.

Dummy cars. The real stuff must be towards the front. The train started to move beneath me. It lurched slowly and the horn up front blared.

It picked up speed fast.

_Where are we heading? These tunnels are sealed off!_

My questions remained unanswered. I just kept going to the next car, where I found Elin standing calmly in the middle of a car of unconscious Faunus. He smiled and winked at me, re-coiling his whips. Together we headed forward; unaware of the presence that was following us.

The train bellowed its displeasure as something happened. Simon, I thought grinning. Torchwick must be chewing rock trying to figure out why things were happening.

In the next train car, there was Elise finishing off the last of another large group. "Dahlia, something's wrong." She said worriedly.

"Elin find Peyton, he should be in the next car." I ordered. "Dahlia, the White Fang are moving forward, away from the back cars for no reason. I know team RWBY is above us, they know that but why are they-" She was interrupted by a rupture from outside.

"Go on ahead, I'll check it out. See if you can get answers out of the Faunus ahead of us." She nodded and hurried away. I was alone.

Breaking the lock on the car door, it slid open and I carefully poked my silver head out to see behind us. The last train car was gone and I watched as the next train car uncoupled itself.

I watched it blow up spectacularly. But why?

It didn't hit me till I saw the Grimm. So many Grimm.

_By all the Gods…_

I darted to the next car and kept running. We had to stop the train, we had to. The pieces of this part of the puzzle were slowly coming together and the plan was devious.

I found the rest of my team a little past halfway, close to the Paladin tracks and explained. "They are leading the Grimm into the city. They are using the train cars to blow holes to the surface. If they reach the end of this tunnel…"

Peyton turned white. "It'll be Mountain Glenn all over again, right in the middle of downtown Vale." I nodded grimly.

"We have to go. Now." I ordered.

"You're not going anywhere, Big Sister." A whispery voice said behind me. A very familiar voice. "Go." I said not turning around. "You have to stop the train."

I turned. "Hello, Ghost." I murmured, pain lancing my heart. I felt my team go and I stared at the little emaciated boy before me. He was a year younger than me but he looked like he was twelve. He had dirty yellow eyes and grimy white hair and his body was nothing more than a skeleton and organs covered in a sheath of skin.

This was another of Omar's Children. A very dangerous one.

"I missed you, Big Sister, when you didn't come home. We all did. I'm so glad that I found you first." His smile was manic and his eyes held the madness that all Children had, yet his was taken a few steps further. Ghost was his name and he was second only to me as an assassin.

"I missed you too, Ghost. But I couldn't go back. I won't go back." I said, centering myself. It had been a long time since I fought against Ghost. Omar had shown his cruelty that day, pairing us together. Ghost was one of the ones I had desperately tried to shield. I had to hold back tears, remembering how he used to be, as a child, eager and always ready with a smile for me. Me, his big sister, who gave him half of my food because they never gave him enough.

His eyes measured me. "We're all looking for you, Big Sister. You need to come home." I shook my head sadly. "You need to come back to the Family. Father is waiting." His body began to sway side to side, trying to hypnotize me. "I'm sorry, Ghost." I whispered, hating myself.

I lunged at him, whirling Orchid. His childlike eyes widened in terror but I knew that game. He moved away quickly, almost floating. We began a deadly dance all the way back down to the end cars. Somewhere in our dance, Ghost managed to rip off my headscarf, revealing my drawn and tired face and my shining silver hair.

Ghost was like me in that he had been under Omar's thumb since he was a small child. He had endured a lot of pain but it had crushed him rather than made him stronger. He was terribly skinny, not because he didn't eat. Ghost consumed quite a bit of food but he was eternally hungry, his metabolism burning through him day and night.

The worst way to punish Ghost was to starve him. And starve him they had.

He tried to come at my back and when I swung Orchid at him, his Semblance activated and it passed right through him.

Flipping away from him, I felt urgency pressing at me. I had no idea when the car was supposed to go and Ghost was nearly impossible to beat when he activated his Semblance. My only comfort was I knew his favorite finishing move.

He loved to pass his hand right through your chest, grip your heart and rip it out. He always said nothing gave him more pleasure or soothed his hunger more than consuming his defeated foe's heart.

I could even remember the first time he had done so. Omar had punished him for stealing food by starving him for three weeks. In the end, when the Guard rotated, Ghost had sprung on him, killed him and dragged the body into the containment room. Days later when Omar looked in, he was pleased to see only cleaned gnawed on bones.

Ghost had happily told his 'Father' that the heart was his favorite part. The face was his second because it was sweeter meat than the rest of the body.

_Ghost, the Cannibal._

Though I was the only true daughter of Omar, we were all his Children.

Ghost didn't need a weapon, his body was his weapon. In a fight with him, it was who was the fastest and could last the longest. A few times, I would feel a cold tingling and I knew that some part of Ghost had passed through me.

"Why fight, Big Sister? Father wants you to come home. Your brothers and sisters want you home. Why do you fight?" He whispered, flying at me.

I barely got out of the way. If he got near my chest he may or may not kill me. But it'd also be too easy for him to choke me into unconsciousness. "I have a new home now, Ghost. I have new brothers and sisters. I have a new family. I want to go back to my home." His face twisted in rage. "I will kill them all. Then you will have to come home to us! No one takes away my Big Sister!" He growled.

I heard fighting up above me and I prayed team RWBY would be okay.

Ghost was between me and the exit to the next train car.

"You will not touch my family, Ghost. I will not go back to being Omar's pet. I will not be a slave again." I hissed as the train car lurched. I had to time this just right.

"Come home!" He cried, just a little boy again.

I blocked out his pain. There was nothing I could do for him. His devotion to Omar was too strong for Omar let him eat the hearts of his victims to slake his unending hunger. Something no one else would ever allow him to do. So I blocked his emotions and numbed mine.

"No, Little Brother. I will not go home. Give Father my regards." I said running at him. His body was nothing but cold air washing through me as I dove through him. He screamed in rage but the train car decoupled and when I stood up on the other train car, I watched the train car explode with Ghost inside.

I knew he wasn't dead. I knew he wasn't.

But I still turned away and ran hard despite the pain in my leg and the emotional pain in my chest. The clock was ticking and I couldn't be late.

The Atlesian Paladins powered up and I almost stopped to fight them. But I had to get to the front. Had to tell Simon to put on the brakes.

I ran into a full on firefight between team DEEP, plus Simon, against two train cars full of Faunus. It wasn't a pretty sight.

I briefly thought of team RWBY. Of Blake. I hoped that they were okay. "Dahlia duck!" Elise cried. I bent, barely dodging a volley of bullets before I whirled into the fight. My team was beat up pretty bad but they still fought fiercely. They too had lost their head covers.

Simon fought hard as well but my thoughts were at the front car. Why wasn't he there?

"Simon, leave this to us! Go stop the train!" I called, beheading a Deer-Faunus. "Derivalle, I can't." He said, stabbing and cutting a swath to me. "Why not?" I said breathing evenly but my eyes watered with pain.

"Dahlia." He said; his eyes full of resignation and fear. "There are no brakes."

The last of the Faunus attacked but my three protégés finished them while I stared at Simon speechless. No brakes.

"We can't stop this train."

He shook his head. "We have failed, Ms. Derivalle. We have failed."

Anger stirred in me. We were only two cars away from the front. "Not yet. Quickly, to the front of the train." My team gathered around me. Elise sheathed Serenity. "Dally… it's too late." She murmured. Ice formed above us and Peyton and Simon grabbed us all between them and we crouched down.

_We are too late…_

Tendrils of soothing and healing wrapped about my team, my last action before the train with no brakes hit the dead end at full speed.

* * *

Sirens wailed around us and there was a ringing in my ears. Those special sirens that were only used for one reason.

I lay on my back close to my friends, staring up at the bright mid-day sun and the serene blue sky as dust began to settle around us.

Sirens wailed.

I was dizzy and my vision was rimmed in red but I thought I could see team RWBY lying close by.

We were in the middle of the city, with the shopping plazas and the bustling crowds who all stared at us in horror.

Elise coughed and Peyton moaned. Elin blinked fast and Simon sat up carefully. Seeing them I forced myself up and I looked around. My leg was trapped beneath a huge slab of concrete. I couldn't feel it but I knew I was in pain.

The train was destroyed and there was a massive hole, leading right into the main courtyard. Orchid was clenched in my hand and I was covered in cuts and bruises.

_What?..._

I heard the roar of hundreds of dark creatures behind me, so close.

I turned and looked back, terror filling my chest and the terror of the masses beat upon me.

We had failed. The Grimm were coming.


	32. Chapter 32

The Grimm erupted from the tunnels like a volcano. A massive black King Taijitu rose straight out to the sky roaring.

Only then did people begin to run.

Ursa, Beowolves, Deathstalkers, Boarbatusks, King Taijitu's and some Grimm that I hadn't fought in years all began chasing down their prey and feasting.

_No, no, no,_ "NO!" I cried, trying to jerk myself up. Peyton was ashen as he stared about him. "Quickly, team DEEP! Protect the citizens! Go now!" I cried, trying to move the slab off my leg so that it could heal. None of them moved, too much in shock to do anything but stand and stare.

Peyton in particular, his emotions were so volatile that I actually, for the first time since I had met him, blocked him out completely. His emotions threatened to overtake me.

The bones were shattered in my lower leg and I knew that I was going to suffer. The leg that Omar had broken was shattered again, furthering the damage that would not heal.

The sirens kept wailing and the screams were all around me. "Dahlia!" Elise cried, slicing a Beowolf in half just in time before it could bite my head off. She helped me to lift the rock off of me but her arms shook. She had expended too much energy.

I used Orchid to stand and my eyes quickly assessed the damage. "Team DEEP, the south is where most of the citizens are, quickly, go!" With clear orders, the team finally shook off the horror that had frozen them and they threw themselves into the fight. "Go, Elise, I'll be fine." I told my friend who looked at me worriedly.

Team RWBY began fighting too and for a second I hoped we had a chance.

It didn't last long.

Team RWBY was fighting as hard as they could but they were quickly surrounded. My team were guarding the citizens they could, fighting just as hard.

Once my leg had healed up enough for me to lean some weight on it, I too joined the fray, splitting Orchid into my four dancing blades.

Gods, the pain. It almost eclipsed everything else but I held on and used it to put more power behind my attacks. There were so many Grimm and more came through the breach every second.

There was no way to close it so I concentrated on easing the two team's burdens as much as I could. I was a silver blur through the black of the Grimm. We had to protect the people. We had to kill all the Grimm.

I heard an explosion from far away and my spirits soared as I saw Nora flying through the air to crack down on the King Taijitu's head, killing it instantly.

I closed my eyes for a second and blessed our luck. Reinforcements were on the way.

I kept dancing with my silver blades, killing left and right.

The only time I stopped was when I saw an Ursa towering over a little girl, who hugged her teddy bear and closed her crying eyes. My fury washed the streets in red and I gripped the little girl around the middle, carrying her to where my team had the citizens.

"Lisa!" A mother cried. I was covered in blood and gore but the mother planted a kiss on my cheek before I was off again. I had no time to rest.

Pyrrha, Ren and Jaune joined the fight as well. It was beautiful. But not enough.

There were just too bloody many.

Jaune took down an Ursa Major with a savagery I had never seen and I felt proud of how far he had come. And then, bless their hearts, Sun and Neptune came up flashing their detective badges.

"Fight you idiots!" I yelled, throwing one half of Orchid into the mouth of a Beowolf pack leader. But there was little need. For in the sky, there were Atlesian battleships primed and ready. The army had come at last.

Atlesian knights rained from the sky, gleaming in their armor. The robots turned the tides but truth be told, they didn't do much. The Huntsman and Huntresses killed fifteen Grimm to one the Atlesian Knights killed together.

The Knights took to guarding the citizens, freeing team DEEP to truly fight.

It still relieved me to see the back up. I wasn't sure I could keep going.

I looked to the breach and froze.

Within the tunnel I could hear the shouts and screams of the Faunus who had been left behind. I could feel their fear, sharper than even that of the citizens, for theirs was tempered with the knowledge that no one up here cared whether they made it out of not. Their desperation left a horrid taste in my mouth. They felt abandoned and scared and they accepted inevitable death.

I made a decision then.

I kept fighting, back to back with my team, months of training making us flawless even in exhaustion. Perhaps especially in exhaustion.

"Altrich!" Peyton called as Simon got slammed by a Wheel of Death. Elin dashed over to him and threw him over his shoulder. "Get him out of here!" I called, flicking Orchid back into a rifle.

We needed more than robots, we needed real back up. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Emerald and Mercury joining the fight.

My mind must have been playing tricks on me… I could have sworn I saw Cinder.

A rumble from the tunnel alarmed me and I prepared for more Grimm. More Grimm came, yes. But so did Professor Oobleck and the little dog I had seen earlier. Oobleck had a severely beat up Paladin around him and the dog head butted a Beowolf without fear.

"Dahlia, you need to stop." Peyton called. I hadn't realized it but I was swayed on my feet. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision and I dove into the fight again.

"Team CFVY and MMCY, incoming!" Elin cried, pointing up. I even saw Professor Port!

I breathed a sigh of relief. We had enough Huntsman and Huntresses now. We could win.

Martris hit the ground heavily alongside Mykel who projected fear into every Grimm around him. Carella, the amazonian girl on Mykel's team and her younger sister, Ygritte, went to work as well. Team CFVY leapt down to the streets, Fox and Velvet taking off, Coco taking her time and Yatsuhashi was immediately attacked.

Yet, he only pulled his long orange blade off his back and slammed it into the ground. It rippled through the ground and it was effective but I screamed when a flying piece of debris flew and hit me square in the leg, where it hurt the most. My body was struggling so hard to try and heal that part again. That slab had done a number on me.

I was ashamed but I dropped to the ground, blind for a moment with pain.

"Dahlia!" Velvet cried. I tasted blood were I had bitten through my lip but I was able to struggle to my feet. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Go. More important things to worry about." I said faintly. Mykel was by my side immediately, helping me to stay my feet. "Easy, Ms. Dahlia. You're very injured." He said while Martris defended us. "I'm fine. Protect the citizens. Please." I said, recovering enough to stand on my own. Mykel nodded, a serious look in his eyes. "Don't do anything foolish, Dahlia." He said. It was the first time he had called me Dahlia without saying Miss. It surprised me enough to make me smile. "I'll be okay. Go, quickly." I said and he and Martris were off like a shot.

With Coco in the playing field, I knew they would be fine. And I saw Goodwitch striding angrily down the block.

_She's going to seal the hole._

"Team DEEP, to me!" I called, my voice carrying through the carnage. There were so many bodies.

_This never would have happened if I hadn't failed._

"How is everyone?" I asked smiling. They sighed, knowing that particular smile meant trouble.

"Nearly dead."

"Close to dying."

"On the brink of death." They replied. I nodded. "Great. Well, I hope you're ready for this then. We're going back in the tunnel for the other Faunus that are trapped in there." I said. They didn't seem surprised.

"Ready?"

Elise punched her hand and cracked her neck. "Let's go!" I bolstered them with my Semblance, barely able to use it. Too many emotions battered me and if I slipped once, I would be out and down for the count. So much fear. So much grief. Too many hadn't survived.

We ran towards the breach just as Glynda reached it. "Wait!" I called. She looked up startled.

"Go." I said to my team and they unflinchingly dove back into the dark.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing?!" She yelled but they were already gone. She looked at me, fear and anger warring in her cold green eyes. I met them calmly. "There are still people down there. I'm taking my team back down there to get the survivors to safety." She looked appalled.

"They are the enemy! And I'm not keeping this hole open to wait for you to save them!"

My eyes didn't waver. "I didn't say you were."

She jolted. "Y-You want me to seal you in there?" She asked horrified.

I smiled kindly, knowing it wasn't very comforting as I looked mostly dead and covered in blood. "That's exactly what I want you to do. We'll find another way out. Don't worry." I said turning and diving into the breach before she could say anything.

I was met with more Grimm. I looked up and saw her staring in.

"Close the hole! We'll be okay! Tell Ozpin that! Tell him we'll be okay!" I yelled, fighting. My voice cracked and I felt Glynda warring with herself. I sounded so scared, so desperate and in so much pain. And I was but I could feel my team and the remaining Faunus inside.

It gave me something that resembled courage.

Close to tears, Glynda hesitated then waved her crop and the debris went back to its proper place and sealed, like it had never happened.

She sobbed with despair, feeling like she had just signed team DEEP's death warrants with her own hand.

And team DEEP was left in darkness with more Grimm than they could count.

Yet we fought. The other three closed their eyes, like I had taught them and felt the battle with their sixth sense as I called it. The darkness brought them relief and safety and courage to battle the fear, weariness and pain. Darkness was our true element.

Side by side, back to back team DEEP fought the creatures, saving those they could, killing those they couldn't. I usually made that decision. I would put them out of their misery and ease their passing if I could. A rifle shot to the head hurt less than being eaten alive by a Grimm or dying of festering wounds.

It was hard. It was one of the most excruciating things I'd ever done. I pushed my body beyond its limits and then some. I had to get these people out of this Hell.

I would not abandon them like their leaders had.

"Quickly follow us!" I cried and their fear left an acrid taste in my mouth.

"Who are you?" They asked. "My name is Dahlia Derivalle of team DEEP. That is Peyton, Elin and Elise. We're from Beacon." I said, not pausing in my killing spree. The taste of blood bolstered me in savage ways.

They talked amongst themselves as they followed us. At least I knew there were no Grimm behind us. We didn't let a single one slip by.

I felt their confusion. "Why did you come back for us? We tried to kill you." A tremoring voice asked. A pair of claws caught me down my arm but my body was so numb with exhaustion that I didn't really even know it.

"We couldn't leave you all here to die. You're people too and deserve our protection as well." I knew they distrusted all of this but they were stunned to be alive and their gratitude helped me forge on.

Sometimes I was so tired, I couldn't understand how I was still breathing, let alone fighting. I had gone so far beyond my limits, farther than I had ever gone before. By now I would have either ran away to recover, or I would have desperately called for back-up. Even when I had been a General under my Father, I had never fought so desperately.

But no one was coming in after us. We were all these people had. If we gave up, their lives were forfeit too.

And we were team DEEP, so we had to keep fighting.

What seemed like hours later, we came to an opening to the surface that wasn't raining Grimm. I was so numb I couldn't even feel relief.

"Go." I gasped and the White Fang members quickly made for the opening. Most of them were crying in relief. They were alive and they thought they would be dead. I could feel them reevaluating a lot of things. These humans had come back in just to save them.

_Well, three of us are human. _

A Wolf Faunus who had been leading his people and occasionally helping us put a paw/hand on my arm and looked deep into my unseeing eyes.

"We won't forget you Dahlia Derivalle of Beacon Academy. The White Fang will not forget what team DEEP did for us." I gave him a slight smile that showed my fangs and bowed my head in acceptance. He was surprised and wary as he recognized the significance of my smile. He sniffed experimentally and was surprised to smell the wolf in me buried underneath the stench of Grimm. He growled and lifted his chin, exposing is neck in a gesture of gratitude. I growled back."Go. Get your people out of here and go somewhere safe. We'll get the rest out of this place." He thanked me one last time before he bounded up to freedom. A freedom that I denied to myself and my teammates. I would have been okay if I had been the only one trapped down here but it hurt my heart to know that I was endangering my friends as well.

My team was in the same shape that I was. We guarded the Faunus until the last one escaped and we paused momentarily, gasping for breath and hissing in pain. "Do you think there are anymore?" Elin asked breathlessly. I was shaking and it was no surprise that so were the others.

We had spent the entire day fighting with little to no break. The sun would be setting soon.

Elise looked towards the tunnel. "Marco!" She yelled with all her strength. It echoed on and on down the tunnel, carrying over the sounds of the Grimm.

"Polo!" Was the faint reply. It was a childish way to find out but it worked. She smiled at us and somehow, just somehow we forged on ahead.

Where was this strength coming from? How was it that we were still standing even though we had used up even our reserve energy.

I had no answer to that question and I didn't find it inside the maze of tunnels. There was nothing but the darkness in my vision, the cold steel of my weapon in my hands, the feeling of it passing through flesh and bone and the screams of Faunus and Grimm alike.

Screaming and crying and begging for help or mercy… _so much screaming_…


	33. Chapter 33

Exhausted but alive, team DEEP crawled from the cave. Somehow we were alive.

How many Grimm had we fought? I had lost count. In the darkness of the maze, there could have been hundreds of thousands and we killed them all.

How had there been so many?...

"C...Can you all make it... up the tree?" I said gasping. We were all using our arms to drag our bodies across the forest floor but it was night and we were in danger. There was no possible way we could fight anymore Grimm. _If a pack of Beowolves comes, I'll just let them eat me._

I couldn't have healed the tiniest cut if I tried.

I could barely keep breathing and the other four were no better off.

"M...Maybe." Peyton whispered, slowly attempting to push himself to his knees.

Elise just didn't move.

Even though I had no strength, I still used all of my willpower to force myself up and stumble over to her and put her arm over my shoulder.

Together we hauled her up to her feet, leaning on each other for stability.

She turned her dull eyes at me and I felt a wave of gratitude roll over me.

I looked up.

"To that branch there. It's high enough that we won't get caught but it's not too far. The twins are done in. Peyton? Can you take Elin up?" I said slowly. My mouth felt dry and my breath rattled in my throat.

Without speaking, Peyton threw the half unconscious Elin onto his shoulders and used the last fumes of his strength to climb to the branch I pointed out. When he reached it he laid Elin down and toppled over next to him. Thankfully, I had chosen a large branch.

Working in tandem, Elise and I reached the tree branch and collapsed near Elin and Peyton. Oh, it felt so good to not move and not think. My body felt like jelly and I knew that I could no longer move. But I was so proud of my team.

We had made it when everyone else would have given up. Even on our last dregs, we had continued fighting. To the point that, if my readings were correct, it would take two to three weeks to fully recover our strength. Our Semblance strength and physical strength. Our wounds would take longer to heal and it was going to be hard to get back to Beacon in our condition.

"P-Peyton… you still awake?" I breathed. I heard a grunt and guessed that was all Peyton could muster. "If you can… send a message to Beacon… tell them we made it… we've gone to ground… we'll be back when we're strong enough to move again." My vision was going dark.

Perhaps I heard Peyton typing into Tech Slash. Maybe it was a figment of a dream.

At that point, Ursa could have come out and dance on top of me and I would've stayed blissfully asleep.

* * *

_A day and a half later…_

* * *

My eyes must have been glued close. When Elise poked me forcefully, trying to wake me, my eyelashes were stuck to my face.

"Come on, Dally. It's time to wake up."

I moaned. _But I like the darkness where I don't dream or feel at all._

But she scraped the crust off my eyelashes and I forced my eyelids up. It was twilight outside and I lifted my head up.

_Oh yeah, we're in that tree._

"Report." I said, cracking my neck and back, massaging some of the soreness from my joints. My hair was a mess, I felt disgusting, I looked even worse covered in dried blood and pieces of the Grimm I had killed. Orchid was closed and stored in its back sheath and my leg ached as if I was being shot with a thousand tiny fire arrows.

"Well, this is the first time we've woken up before you." Elin said grinning. He looked as haggard as the rest of us but I was glad to see him smile.

We were alive. I looked at Elise who was massaging her dead looking sword arm. "I don't need healing." She snapped at me when she saw me looking. "You need all your strength for yourself." I smiled at her and nodded respecting her wish. I couldn't have healed her even if I wanted to.

"We got a response back from Beacon." Peyton said ominously. I looked at him and there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Oh?"

He nodded. "Not surprisingly, the Headmaster intercepted my message. He sent his opinion on what we did, along with Goodwitch's, Mykel Dionard's, team RWBY's, team JNPR's and team CFVY's along with all of our professor's and Daren's. I decided to wait until we were all awake and lucid before breaking it to you. I haven't read them yet. I'd prefer to reach the ship first and eat something and maybe clean up before we hear what our comrades and teachers think of our impulsive actions."

I looked pained but happy. At least they wouldn't be too frantic about us. "Thank you for getting that message to them. It would have been a thousand times worse if we hadn't."

Elin looked at me. "Dahlia, they all assumed we were dead. The minute we went into that tunnel, they all gave us up for dead. Don't think we got off so easy." His smirk was for me and Elise. He knew our male counterparts would have quite a bit to say to us when we got back.

"C'mon, Mommy Quicksilver. I want to get to that ship soon." Peyton said hauling me to my feet. I grimaced at being vertical but I recognized the sense. At the ship, we could clean up, change, get medicine, eat and get a few more hours of sleep in real beds.

Just thinking about it made me weak with relief.

Once I had showered and eaten, maybe things wouldn't seem so bleak?

Oh, such optimism...

Our trek back to the ship was onerous and left in silence. For all the banter earlier, we all still felt impact of what we did. So many things whirled inside my head.

We could have died. The White Fang could've turned on us in the tunnels, a slight mistake would have brought the entire team down, and just how many Grimm did we kill collectively? How many White Fang had we been too late to save?

How many of them had I put out of their misery?

Instead, we lived. We survived it under incredible circumstances. Even then, I had no clue as to what kept all four of us going down there in the dark. Where did the strength to continue fighting come from?

That particular question gnawed at my mind. How did we do it?

So many questions. I knew we had done the right thing. I knew when I dove into the darkness that it was the best course of action. Now we had a wild card in our hands to play against whoever had concocted this evil plan.

The White Fang we had saved. We saved many of them and now they had a choice between the leaders who had left them to die… and us. Team DEEP who had risked our lives to go back into Hell to bring save them. The best part was that no doubt, the Head of this plan had no idea that those White Fang members had survived. They'd call it collateral damage and seek to gain the rest of the White Fang's trust back.

And now I had my own personal group of loyal Faunus who would quietly spread the word about Dahlia Derivalle and team DEEP. Humans who were better than their own Faunus leaders. And just imagine how easy it would be to help that loyalty to me grow when they learn the Dahlia Derivalle was actually a Faunus? I thought about that Wolf Faunus and his show of respect for me. I prayed that he'd have the strength to convince his fellows that a young woman would be a better leader than Adam.

I rubbed the back of my neck and growled under my breath. I was playing a dangerous game. But if I learned anything from Omar, it was how to think ahead to how you can use things like this to your advantage.

Cinder wasn't the real mastermind behind this. Neither was Torchwick, Gods forbid. Neither of them truly had the cunning to bring this all to bear and there were far too many other threads to this web that I didn't know. So I would weave my own web and sit in the middle of it and wait to see what the enemy's next move was.

Meanwhile, I had my team to take care of.

It was pretty terrible; the extensive injuries we all received. Even worse, I couldn't heal. I had drained all the power from my Semblance. Even my Quick Heal was failing to work at that point.

My face was bruised and I had deep welts on my forehead, cheeks and chin. I had a pretty nasty one that ran from my right temple to the bottom of my jaw. The rest of me wasn't pretty either.

It took me forever to clean out all of my teammate's wounds. I feared infection from the blood and gore in the wounds and wasted no time with it. I pulled so many teeth out of the wounds. I hadn't even gotten to mine and we had enough to make three necklaces.

Elin volunteered to do just that when he woke up later.

We would all have new battle scars to show our classmates when we finally made it back. Elise fretted over my facial wounds but I didn't particularly care. I'd seen Oz's scars and I knew he'd still love me for mine.

And Daren would still love Elise for hers.

I let Elise take the first shower while I fed Elin and Peyton. We were able to wipe off most of the blood and gut and fur from our bodies but it would take a real shower to feel clean again.

Pumped myself full of non-drowsy, non-hallucinatory pain medication and finally after three days, my leg didn't feel like I had shattered it repeatedly. Which when I commented that statement, Elin's quip remark was: "Well, you kind of did."

We lounged around the ship in robes since we didn't want to leave our grimy clothes on but we weren't going to put fresh clothes on our grimy bodies. Our killer gear, as we were wont to call it, was stored in a sealed container so that when we went back to beacon I could use my special cleaners to remove all traces of blood and gore from it. We would have to get new head covers though, after losing ours in the train fighting.

Elin and Peyton showered together to save time and water and Elise was much more relaxed when she toweled off and consumed her massive meal. "Oh man, I thought I'd never feel clean again."

She wrinkled her nose at me as I rubbed ointment into her welts and I laughed. "I'll wait my turn. But I can't wait to not smell like this." I said, dabbing the salve on her last cut.

She nodded with her mouth full of food.

I smiled, relieved that even though she'd been through some awful things lately Elise was still Elise. Still loud mouthed, rude, straight-forward, strong and all-consuming, darling Elise.

I had been worried about how my team would hold up. When I had been learning the things they had, I had nearly broken under the strain. Add onto that all the normal classes and stresses of life and I had worried. Not to mention the killing and the fear and the close brushes with death.

Elise belched and sat back contently, her eyes slowly closing.

"C'mon, Feistypants. Let's get you to a bed." She rolled up reluctantly and shuffled to a bed and then clean and full, Elise fell asleep. I checked the antiseptic on her wounds and then let her snore away.

It was the same with my two boys. They ate huge meals as I finished taking care of their injuries and then passed out soon after.

Finally, it was my turn to wash off. The hot pounding water helped me tremendously. I scrubbed every last bit of Grimm off of me and reveled in the slight rawness I felt. I wanted desperately to be clean.

My hair was the worst. It took the longest to finally get all the blood and other stuff from its strands. How gross.

I hissed in pain whenever I rubbed a wound the wrong way but I was just relieved to see that they were all clean. I knew from experience the hell a festering wound, no matter how big or small, could put a person through.

And when I stepped from the shower, it was fully nighttime.

I knew I should have listened to the messages but as I ate and rubbed my salve into my injuries, I felt my eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

Once I had checked to make sure the rest of my pack was safe and sleeping did I allow myself to give in to exhaustion.

I barely had time to lie on the bed before I was fast asleep.


	34. Chapter 34

The morning came and went and I awoke in the late afternoon feeling a thousand times better. It is incredible how the body can bounce back with some food and rest.

I checked the date a paled considerably.

It had been a little over three days since we had gone into the tunnel to fight and die.

With groans and moans, team DEEP awoke and stretched sore muscles. "Good afternoon, my darlings." I called, setting out a hearty meal. Even I ate more than usual. Blackberries and toast weren't going to get me back into shape alone.

As Peyton sipped his tea, he opened his scroll and choked. "Ye gods."

Alarmed, I rushed to his side. "Dahlia… we have more messages…" I groaned. "From who?"

He looked down the line of messages. "Ozpin, Ozpin, Daren, Simon, Blake, Ozpin, Ruby, Daren, Daren, Ozpin, Simon, Ren, Yang, Weiss, Jaune, Daren, Blake, Pyrrha, Velvet, Blake, Simon, Nora, Mykel, Ozp-"

"Okay! I got it!" I said, annoyed. "Dahlia, darling, this is what happens when you scare so many people at once, and since you are our fearless leader, all of the real complaints will fall directly in your lap where they belong." Elin said with a wicked grin.

The lanky boy wrapped his arms around his massive boyfriend's neck and kissed his cheek, a subtle reminder that he was getting out of being yelled out because his love was there with us.

While mine was probably fuming in his office, waiting desperately for my reply.

I sighed. I'd put this off long enough.

"Alright, team… time to listen to the messages." We collectively winced but we sat down and turned toward the monitor.

Peyton scrolled to the first one. Oz's reply to Peyton's garbled message the night we had emerged half dead from the tunnels of Mountain Glenn.

Oz was sitting at his desk and he cleared his throat before beginning.

"Well team DEEP, I am glad to know that your foolish actions did not yet cost you your lives." He began and we all winced again at the edge in his voice.

"Oh, he is mad." Elise murmured.

"You were sent on a basic assignment with a strong Huntsman. Yes, there were complications and you all are praised for your bravery in the battle above ground. But nowhere in any instructions were you to do anything like what you did. Huntress Goodwitch is frantic as are the rest of the staff, you have riled up the entire student body and General Ironwood is still trying to understand why two first year teams were sent on this mission and until we received your message, we assumed that you were dead. Can you not understand the consequences your actions have?"

The boys gulped.

"I cannot fathom what possessed you to play the heroes and go back into those tunnels. I will not ask what you were thinking because clearly, you weren't!"

Elise's shoulders hunched.

"Upon your return, all of you will receive punishment for such reckless behavior. Do not tarry too long or the punishment will grow worse."

The transmission cut off. We each let out a gusty sigh. "Well, we knew it was going to be bad." I sighed. "And it's going to get worse, you know. That message was sent three days ago." Elise just shrugged dejectedly.

This is what we got for being the heroes.

The next few transmissions were similar. Less cutting but painful all the same. Our sister teams were furious and scared witless. They kept asking where are you? Are you okay? Why? Why? Why?

Even Ren, cool and collected Ren, looked half out of his mind with worry.

Glynda's was particularly painful. She cried as she asked why? Why? Why? She told us we were reckless fools and that she was going to beat us when we got back but at the end of the transmission she broke down saying "I'm just s-so glad you're all okay."

She said she was sorry for locking us in the dark even though I told her to.

For Blake's message I made the others leave the room.

The message was for Dahlia as Big Sister.

Blake wore no bow and she looked exhausted like she hadn't slept a wink since I had gone. She asked me why I would try to save the people who wanted me dead. She tried to speak of the past but she couldn't. Her ears lay back in grief.

"I can't lose you, Dahlia. Not when I've just gotten you back. Please come home soon and come home safe." She sniffled, emphasizing the word safe.

Daren's first message was a general rant at all of us, especially me. His second one, Peyton, Elin and I had to leave the room but from what I heard, Daren had cried too.

All of Oz's messages were cold and impersonal but there was definite change. The bags beneath his eyes grew more pronounced with every passing day, every passing hour. He looked pale and wan. He just kept reminding us to come back quickly.

Something I came to accept was, as Elin had said early, everyone blamed me. The most painful thing all of my friends and teachers said was that it was my fault we had almost died. I was the leader and I had put my team in immense danger. This was my entire fault.

The only ones who were stoutly against that were my three teammates. They had followed me because they knew I was right, or so they said. We live as a team, Peyton said, we will die as a team.

It took us almost three hours to wade through all of the pain filled messages.

Finally, it was Oz's last one. The one he had sent late morning that day. When we opened it up he cleared his throat just like he always did before he cut into us again but this time he merely asked, "Team DEEP, would you leave the room for this message. This is for me and your leader."

I motioned them to go and they did without protest.

He seemed calm and collected as he waited. Moments after my team closed the door, he changed before my eyes.

He sagged dramatically, his face crumpled with pain and fear as he covered it with his hands.

"By all the Gods, Dahlia, where are you?" He whispered brokenly. "I need you."

I had to grip the chair to stop my hands from shaking.

"You've been gone for too long and you haven't answered any of our messages. We can't find your location and you haven't even opened any of the messages you've been sent. Are you hurt? Are you dying and that's why you haven't contacted me? Gods, Dahlia everything is falling apart."

I was shocked to see silent tears running down his face when he lowered his hands. "Could you feel my pain when Glynda came and told me that she had sealed you back inside the tunnels with all those Grimm? Could you feel hers? All to save those Faunus. Your sister teams are frantic and they keep trying to sneak out to search for you. I can't sleep, I can't eat, and I can barely stand. I'm drowning without you. All I have is your last recording and it scares me to wonder if that's all I will have. None of you will really be punished, it's just a show. Please, my love, come home. We all need you desperately. I need you desperately. Please come back."

My heart thudded and tears welled up in my eyes. _They really thought we were gone._ _I've got to be the most despicable person on the entire planet._

I watched him fall apart even more before the recording was over. _Gods, what have I done?_

I don't know what my team saw in me when they came back but they came and we huddled together for comfort. At least there were three people who didn't want to throttle me.

"Team?"

Three eyes turned to look at me. "Yes, oh fearless leader."

I winced. For once I didn't like the responsibility of being the leader. I was going to pay for my impulsive actions more than I already had the minute I set foot back home at Beacon.

"Let's go home."

We sighed together and together, we let out a collective groan.

* * *

As I flew the transporter through the cloudy skies, I felt someone drape something over me. "All done." A triumphant Elin announced.

I looked down and was impressed to see an intricate necklace resting against my chest. The broken claw of something rested against my sternum, between my leather encased breasts.

We had all showered again and changed into our usual attire.

I was not looking forward to opening the box that contained our killer gear. It probably stank like death and gore.

Elin was very pleased with his creation. It was made of teeth, leather and colored beads he found stored away. They were well made glass beads from Vacuo which made me wonder what else this transporter had been used for.

He had made four different designs for four different people and all of the teeth used were the ones that I had pulled out of that particular person.

It was grotesque and lovely. A testament of our strength.

When I looked back for a moment at my team, it startled me to see their haunted expressions. Startled me even more to know that same expression was on my face. Had always been lurking on my face, even when I smiled.

My heart clenched. They had always been haunted but with me as their leader, I had made them so much worse.

_Blaming yourself won't change anything. They'll learn to deal with it, just as you have._

Have I really learned to deal with what I was? What I still am?

I almost laughed.

I would never change, would I?

I tried to stretch out healing strands to my team but I still couldn't use my Semblance. I had overworked it too much in too short of a time. Even my Quick Heal wasn't working. I knew I looked like a corpse that crawled out of a grave with my death wounds still fresh.

But I wasn't a corpse. None of us were dead. Not on the outside at least.

On the inside?

I grimaced as we neared Beacon. It's beautiful pristine towers and gardens looked so fake at the moment. There was corruption inside of it. At the heart of Vale itself. Team DEEP needed to be strong to stand against what I foresaw was coming. All seemed at peace.

Or maybe just a calm before a raging storm?

We'd need to be strong. We had proven we could be that strong in the Tunnels of Mountain Glenn.

But would our strength last?

* * *

It was dark when we crept to our rooms. Using all the techniques I had taught them, the boys and I slipped in unnoticed. Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with our hysterical classmates and teachers. But there were two people that couldn't wait.

That was why I had dropped Elise off with Daren.

I only took time to change before I slipped from the room and left Peyton and Elin to sleep some more. We'd all be sleeping a lot in the weeks to come.

I took our killer gear and hid it in the bushes near the stream I washed it in before I carefully made my way to Oz's room. I was unsure and dread burbled in my stomach.

I had no idea what to expect.

When I entered his office and he was not there.

I felt like a trespasser for the first time ever.

When I crawled achingly up the stairs to his room there was no light on. All was dark, for the stars did not shine and the moon was hidden behind dark clouds. I could see fine thanks to my wolf eyes but part of me wished that the darkness would blind me.

His bed was neatly made and completely untouched. Proof that he hadn't slept since I had left on my mission.

_Poor Oz. To have gotten stuck loving me, of all people._

He stood by the west wall, giving a view of the docks I had just landed by. He must have stared at those docks every day waiting for me. His face held no expression whatsoever. I touched the strands of green inside me and found a chilling blankness that I was sure hid emotions that I wasn't ready to understand.

It was a testament to how deep inside himself he had gone that he didn't realize someone else was in the room with him.

So, without knowing what to do next, I called his name gently, hearing all the guilt and relief in my voice that I felt.

Slowly, like a wooden doll, he turned.

There was a strange noise that came from his throat. A cross between a keen and a whimper. He got to his feet, like he was afraid if he moved too fast that he would shatter before he reached me.

Gods, this was worse than I had thought.

I didn't move. He was in his suit but he looked disheveled. His hair was unkempt and he wore a new expression. Desperate, wild hope.

When he stood in front of me, he lifted his hand up but didn't touch me.

"You are real… aren't you?" His eyes never left mine. As if he thought if he looked away I would vanish.

But that was it wasn't it? He thought I was a phantom.

"Oh Oz, I'm so sorry." I murmured, reaching for his hand. He was so cold.

At my touch, his whole body began to shake. I caught him as he fell to his knees and I let him wrap his arms around me tightly with his face buried in my stomach. I could barely breathe but I could've cared less. His silent tears soaked my nightgown in moments.

I knelt down and his head ended up on my chest, tucked beneath my chin. His grip didn't loosen and my arms twined around his shoulders while my right hand slowly stroked the back of his head.

"Dahlia… Dahlia, I missed you… Everything fell apart when you left… everything died when you did… please tell me you won't do that ever again. Please let me die first so that I never have to go through that again." Words stuck in my throat.

I recalled all the times our places had been reversed. How many times had he held me as I wept out pain others couldn't understand?

He had always been strong for me. I kissed the top of his head and let his cries become not so silent. I soothed him but I couldn't use my Semblance to help. I had to let my presence be enough.

He babbled on till words became beyond him.

I wondered how long it had been since he had just cried. Knowing my Oz, it had been a very long time since tears had graced his cheeks.

I kissed his head and his face when he turned to look at me. I held him; I whispered words of love and healing and let him lean on me for strength.

He had always been strong for me and now it was my turn to be strong for him.


	35. Chapter 35

Life could not have been more difficult from the next day on. Gods help us.

Elise came back in the morning and I left Oz's room at the first rays of dawn to clean our gear in the creek and get back to the room. I was right. Our killer gear stank.

I needed to replicate my assassin's attire for the team. What they had now was good but old habits die hard and I wanted only the best for them. I felt a sense of foreboding and it itched beneath my skin.

_Get ready. Be prepared. Something's coming. Be prepared._

I spent the night soothing my Oz so that he could sleep yet my mind was filled with Ghost. Ghost, my little Brother. The Child I had seen on the train, the child I had tried to protect. Ghost the Cannibal.

So, the Children were hunting like a pack of hyenas after a wounded lion.

_Omar wants his favorite daughter home._

Though I tried, I could not prepare myself for what my team and I faced that day. First were the whispers. "Team DEEP is back." "They're alive?" "They made it." "I heard that…"

I had showered and dressed, checking and rechecking my wounds to make sure none of them hinted at becoming septic. Once the others were functioning I did the same for them. Proudly we all wore our necklaces of teeth and claws.

Proudly, we bore our battle wounds and scars.

We managed to make it to the dining hall before we were spotted.

There were gasps of surprise and shock, measuring looks and slashes of fear. We were a first year team yet we bore the wounds of something much more.

Then there was Nora. Dear sweet Nora. Should've called her the Banshee.

From across the room, she spotted us, shrieking at the top of her powerful lungs. "_Mommy!"_

I went cold. Many pairs of familiar eyes, swung in our direction and I thought momentarily about running away and hiding. But as I turned I saw the Sun and Neptune had blocked my exit and the herd was upon us.

I was surrounded instantly, bodies packing tightly near me trying to touch me, to reassure like Oz had that I was still alive. So many voices rang in my ears that I had trouble sorting through. There were too many people. Too close… I was suffocating.

"Guys back off, give her some air!" Jaune yelled over the crowd of people.

I hadn't realized how labored my breathing had become. "Hey, Mommy, deep breathes, in then out. Good, good, nice and calm." Ren murmured, rubbing my back. Pyrrha was calming Elise while Peyton had taken care of Elin. It was hard to crowd Peyton as tall as he was.

Then everyone resumed babbling, this time in apology. They couldn't have realized that the press of bodies would remind me too much of the tunnels beneath Vale.

"I…I think I'd like to return to my rooms." I whispered. I was a fool to have though that I could have dealt with so many people at once. I should have known better than to do that to myself, to my team.

In that instant that everyone surrounded me, I wanted to pull Orchid out and start slashing to get them away from me. Just… get them away from me.

"I-I'm sorry. Team DEEP will not be taking any visitors until later. We're still… unsettled. Please excuse us." I said woodenly before gathering my team and fleeing.

"Dahlia? Are you alright?" Velvet called from somewhere near me. I ignored her and limped away with my left hand on Elise and my right clutching Orchid with white knuckles.

_I'm not alright. None of us are alright. How stupid of me to think that we could walk in and everything would be normal. How stupid of me._

* * *

I sat on my bed with Elin and Peyton on the floor near my feet and Elise leaning on me limply, all of us lost in our own thoughts.

"I'm sorry." I said suddenly. Peyton put a hand on my leg. "You couldn't have known. We were all fine up until we were surrounded. We're traumatized. This is normal." He said gently. I chuckled and put my hand over his.

Here I was, the healer, and I couldn't even use my Semblance to heal my own team's trauma. I hadn't recovered any of my Semblance at all. I had overused it so much that I simply couldn't activate it. My Aura was just to the point where I could fend off perhaps one good blow. Perhaps.

Maybe. Probably not.

"We should have seen this coming. We were in that maze for nearly a day. It was bound to leave more than just physical scars." Elin said calmly, running a gentle hand up Elise's calf. The twins needed to touch each other.

We were almost reassuring each other that we were all still there.

Our bodies may have left the tunnels but our minds were still there, amid the darkness and the death. Even for me, it had been soul crushing.

There was comfort, such comfort, in just feeling my team with me. Touching me. Reminding me I wasn't alone in my suffering. I wish they hadn't suffered but it was a relief not to suffer alone.

A tentative knock sounded at the door. We ignored it.

Even the thought of social interaction with anyone made me wince inside. I just needed Elise, Elin and Peyton. I needed my team for strength.

The door opened and I looked up with words blistering on my tongue. If we didn't answer, clearly we were not in the mood to talk, but the words died in my mouth.

"Ah, Ms. Goodwitch. I-I was wondering when-" She held up a hand and cut me off. She looked pretty awful for her usual self.

"We thought you were dead." She said hollowly. Her eyes stared at us with that same look I had seen all day. A fear that we weren't really there. She closed the door and sat down across from us on Elise's bed. From there she assessed our huddle and took in the scars and pain.

"We thought you were dead… and I thought it was my fault. Don't say anything." She snapped when I tried to interrupt her. _It wasn't your fault. It's mine._

"After I sealed you back in the tunnels, the Army took over cleaning up the mess. I and the other teams went back to Beacon. Because of the past, everyone was very aware that you and your team were not on the ship. No one wanted to make that mistake again." There was a small smile and it vanished as soon as I saw it.

"You can't understand the pain. I had to tell everyone that I had sealed you back into darkness, with all those Grimm… to save the remnants of the White Fang. I did that. I'm the one who let you go back in there." Her voice broke. "I thought I had killed you when I did that." Elise lifted her head. "We didn't give you much of a choice, ma'am. We knew what we were getting into the moment we jumped in. Even if Dahlia hadn't told us, we would've gone anyways. We're Huntsman and Huntresses. That's what we do, what you trained us to do. And we lived, so you must be doing an amazing job at it."

Tears came to the Huntress' eyes. My arm snaked around my little friend and I pulled her close. She had done what I couldn't. I couldn't heal. Not yet.

"You may have survived but you are still children. Still my students." She stood and wiped her eyes. Her glasses were fogged and her cheeks red as she turned from us.

"We are so much more than that, Ms. Glynda. You know that." I murmured. Elise buried her nose in my neck, her muscles tightening but not for too long. Her Semblance was also shot. She could barely lift her arms.

The blonde haired Huntress turned and looked at us, her pain and concern wounding me but I wouldn't back down. She knew we were different.

"Not long ago I told Ozpin that you were supposed to be the defenders of the world. Now I look at you and I wish that I hadn't said that. You are the defenders of the world now and I wish you didn't have to be yet. I wish I could've given you more time." Her voice cracked with tears.

She was at the door. "Let them come see you a few at a time so you don't get overwhelmed. We all were so sure you were dead and I think it broke many of them. Let them see you, please. They suffered a lot these past few days."

My stomach tightened and I nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Glynda. Thank you… for being brave enough to do what others wouldn't have." Peyton called and Elin smiled at her.

Even without my Semblance, I could still feel. I could feel her pain and suffering but I could also see her putting the broken pieces back together. We were alive. She hadn't killed us. It was going to be okay. I cuddled my team closer.

A few at a time. That was best. Then we wouldn't be so overwhelmed. But first, there was one person I need to see alone.

I needed to see my baby sister.

"I'm going to find Blake. I'll be back in a bit okay? If you need to see people, go see them but only one at a time. We have to… be gentle with ourselves, I suppose." I smiled and I was rewarded with smiles back. "I love you guys."

Elise kissed my cheek. "We love you too, Mommy Quicksilver."

I chuckled weakly and stood up, leaning heavily on Orchid. Elise rose also but the boys stayed sitting down. They needed a little more time to themselves.

"Did Daren tell you that he is planning on applying as a dance instructor here?" Elise murmured to me quietly as I brushed a gentle hand over her beautiful long hair. "No, he didn't."

"I think it's to be closer to us here. That way I don't have to go all the way to Vale proper to see him and you two can practice dancing here. And he can keep an eye on me…" I smiled wide. "I think it's a wonderful idea. I'll mention it to Oz and see if he can't… streamline the process."

Her gratitude was a sweet balm. It fortified me for what was to come.

I turned and limped down the hallway toward team RWBY's room where there lay a locust swarm of feelings. It sucked me in, right up to their door where I knocked once.

There was a quiet rustle and the door cracked open. A tawny amber eye, as familiar to me as my own, looked out at me. "Hello, kitten." I whispered. "Come walk with me." I knew where to take her.

When the door finally opened all the way, Blake followed next to me as I walked her out to the gardens of Beacon, to a very special place near the library, hidden by trains of ivy and carefully placed hedges. A secret garden that was my favorite place in the world.

She stared about the garden, at the pond and the flowers that were just beginning to fade, at the silver beech tree that I had lay under so many nights alone and so many other nights with Oz. Even in the daytime, it was beautiful.

"It's lovely." Blake whispered to me, drawing close. I smiled. "It is. This is my favorite place in Beacon. My own little secret garden."

We sat down beneath the shade of the beech tree and Blake looked at the sky. For a while, we were silent.

"Why'd you do it?" She finally asked. A rock formed in my throat and I couldn't answer for a moment. "Because I had to, Blake. I couldn't leave them to die." I watched tears fill her eyes. "You could have. No one would have noticed or cared. They deserved to die." She growled, clenching her teeth.

I draped my arm over her shoulders and she leaned her head on my shoulder. "No, they didn't. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that." She said quietly, her voice thick. "I-I just… why should they have survived and you didn't? What have they done except murder and steal and lie and-and then you just died, Dahlia! Goodwitch told us there was such a slim chance of you surviving in those tunnels that we shouldn't even hope! And I was in those tunnels, so I know! My team and I know what you faced in there!" She sobbed and my eyes filled with bitter tears.

"I'm sorry, Blake. I'm sorry I did that to you. To all of you. I guess I didn't think about you guys when I made the decision. It was selfish and-" She looked at me fiercely, even with tears. "Shut up, Dahlia. The next time you call you or your team selfish, I will throw you at Yang. How can you say you're selfish when you went in there for those Faunus? That mocks the sacrifice you all made and the suffering we've lived through." I tried to smile but it hurt too much. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. We had won, you know? We had beaten the bad guys, saved the town, and whatever. But it didn't feel like we won. We couldn't find you or your team after the cleanup. We wanted to celebrate but instead we got… that."

Her hands were clenched up tightly and I could feel the purge she was doing. These words were so pent up over the past few days and once again in my life, I was glad I had survived. I ran my hand over her hair and pulled her close so I could kiss her temple. "I'm sorry." How many times would I say that?

"You promised that you would come back. That it wouldn't be like before. That-" I put my free hand on her cheek and made her look into my eyes. "I came back, Blake. I kept my promise. I am alive and well. You know I can survive, kitten. You know I can." I pulled her into an embrace with her head against my chest. "I will always come back to you. You're my blood sister and I love you. I won't leave you."

She cried but it was a release instead of penning it away. "Do- Do you ever t-think about Aunt Halia… I mean your Mom?" She asked me after hiccupping a few times. I smiled sadly. The first of our little family to abandon us. I refused to be the second. "Every day, little sister."

Ever so carefully, I spun one thread of Healing out from myself and slowly I helped heal my baby sister's heart and soul from the wounds I had left.

_I won't leave you, I won't leave you, not ever again._

* * *

Using the one thread of Semblance had cost me but seeing my sister Healed was worth it. I couldn't bear her pain. And Blake would give other's the confidence to heal themselves of the wounds I had caused.

Back inside team RWBY's room I gently worked that team back from the edge. All it took was for me to smile and say, "Good to see you, darlings." They were careful not to crowd me but they all got as much contact as they needed to reassure themselves that I was alright.

Yang and Weiss got to yell at me, and then all of them got to cry but I knew that it would be okay. I was alive to make sure it would be okay.

I was touched to see the sketchbooks I had given lying near the pillows of each bed.

It was the same for each room I visited. Either Elise, or the boys had beaten me there or all of them but I made sure to visit each room. Even if I couldn't do what I did with Blake, I knew seeing me and my team would heal, slower than my Semblance, but heal it would.

Sun introduced me to his team, after he finished cuddling and yelling at me. I had missed him so much. Neptune hugged me and was relieved I was back. He may have cried a little but I pretended I didn't see him wipe away the tear.

Sage Ayana and Scarlet David greeted me, slightly confused at their teammate's responses to me but very polite. Sage studied me with sharp yellow eyes and beyond the greeting remained silent. Not much of a talker.

Sage was a very attractive young man with dark skin and those piercing yellow eyes. His hair was a dark leafy green and he had a pair of wings tattooed across his pectoral muscles and roman numerals tattooed like a clock around his neck. He wore only a white and green long coat with asymmetrical sleeves, his left sleeve full and the right ending at his mid-upper arm with no shirt beneath. He wore a gold spaulder on his right shoulder and a gold band on his right wrist. Dark pants, black boots and a white and gold belt completed his look. On the back of his coat, there were two green angel wings that were embroidered carefully onto the white fabric.

Scarlet, on the other hand, reminded me a lot of Elin. His bright red hair, much like his name stated, came down over his right eye and the left side of his hair was shaved down to half an inch if I were to guess and it was well taken care of. On his face, near the outer corner of his left eye were red tribal markings and from his left ear hung an earring of three brightly colored feathers. Green, blue and dark pink. Around his neck he wore a gray bandana and hanging rakishly off his left shoulder was an intricately stitched crimson captain's coat. He, unlike Sun and Sage, wore a white sleeveless shirt and on his right hand he wore a fingerless glove and traveling up that arm he wore a gray band. His pants were light gray, held up by a white and gold belt, and coming up to his mid-thigh, he wore light brown lace up boots. All in all he looked like something out of a pirate story.

Like Neptune, they were confused by my nickname as both Sun and Neptune called me Mommy. Neptune's wise comment when they both said they'd never call me that was a simple. "I said the same thing when I met her."

I had only smiled.

I was exhausted when I finally made it back to my room and my team waited for me with food and tea and much healed hearts. There was a message waiting for me on my Scroll.

_Bastard: I heard you got in some trouble, pup. Are you okay?_

Of course, Oz would have told him. I felt bad for making both men worried.

_Me: Sorry, bastard. Didn't mean to make you worried. I just did what I thought a Huntress should do._

Surprisingly, he answered back almost immediately. His response gave my heart relief.

_Bastard: I'm just glad you're safe. Proud of you._

Seeing that made everything better. At least someone understood what I did besides my teammates. And tomorrow would be better and the next day and the next day. It would get easier, we would regain our strength and everything would return to how it had been before the train wreck in the middle of Vale.

All would be well. Eventually.


	36. Chapter 36

The first day of the Tournament arrived and Vale teemed with excitement. It was time to see which school was the best!

"Elise, please stop bouncing." Elin drawled at his exuberant sister. The sound made me smile. Amity Coliseum floated overhead, gleaming in the sunlight.

Truly it was a masterpiece of art and science. Peyton and I had taken it apart bit by bit, pouring over its structure. The greatest minds of Remnant had designed it.

The three layers were obvious but there was so much more in play. The coliseum was shaped like a wide spike facing downward, with the bottom point of it being a massive green stone that produced the hovering of the coliseum and kept it stable in the air. Walking underneath it could be uncomfortable but you could feel the weight of the massive structure weighing down on your shoulders and head in the reverse gravity beneath it.

The second level was the entrance ways and the maintenance level, where the different terrains were stored and fixed after the battles. The top layer was the true coliseum piece with thousands of seats available and in the center below the seats was the arena. Broken into four parts around the octagonal starting plate, each section could become a different terrain, picked by randomization.

Screens broadcasted feed to those too high to see the action and those sitting at home watching the fights from their couches and lounge chairs.

Peyton had also told me of the shield that covered the top of the coliseum so that even in rain, the battle would still be held. The power and complexity of the coliseum astounded and awed me. It was beautiful.

Near the floating coliseum was the fairgrounds where vendors from all four kingdoms had come to provide for the tournament. That was where we were headed that first day. Elin was jittery with nerves. The day before yesterday he had come to me with a request.

A change of attire. Elin wanted to design us new outfits to showcase in the tournament and wear as daily attire. I was partial to the one I had now but I couldn't deny that the idea of change was intriguing. So he had put his head down and tweaked and played with ideas till we were all satisfied and yesterday he went into town with us in tow to have us fitted and dressed.

Now we were headed to the fairgrounds to show off.

We were scheduled to fight this evening and excitement and terror warred in my stomach. Then tomorrow would be the miscellaneous contests of which I was a part of the singing contest (courtesy of Elin), the dance contest (courtesy of Daren) and the art contest (courtesy of the Elise and Peyton). The dance contest I felt confident in but the other two I was just doing for fun. Elin wanted to do the singing contest and signed me up as well while Peyton had entered me in the art contest with himself on Elise's orders.

All seemed well. My team and I were back to pre-Mountain Glenn form, both physically and emotionally. It had taken a long time but the excitement of the tournament had allowed us to push the Maze into the backs of our minds. Now we were determined to show the world that Beacon was the best.

We strode into the fairgrounds, turning heads as we went. Elin barely contained his pride.

Elise had only told him, 'make it bold'. So bold Elin went.

Elise now wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail braid that was tied at the back of her head and fell to her waist and her bangs cutting a rakish angle across her left eyebrow with two silver stilettos crossed in the hair at the back of her head. A black short sleeved collared vest covered her shoulder with her personal emblem on the back in metallic silver that reached just below her bust. Two swords crossed and one pointed straight down on top of them. An old symbol of Strength. Beneath the black over vest was a matte metal cover that stretched from her back all the way to her hips, sweeping in just below her rib cage to cover her hips and the soft space just above her hips. Her pierced belly button showed as well as the flat curve of her stomach below her bust which was covered by a silver bandeau, the same sheen as the metal so it looked like one piece of metalwork. This was tucked into a pair of black leather pants, crisscrossed with two metallic belts that hung carelessly off her hips, only held with a black belt buckle of her emblem. Her heeled black boots came to below the back of her knee and were laced up all the way with silver shoelaces. Around her neck was a silver chain with a tiny Serenity point down to the curves of her breasts and on top of that was her Grimm necklace that she had earned in the tunnels. On her hands, Elin gave her black half gauntlets with steel knuckles and reinforced palms for her sword work. Serenity was magnetized to her back with a newly finished black handle and silver polished pommel so that Serenity matched the outfit and she oozed sexy and confident.

Elin himself had changed drastically but I can't say that it was a bad change. He looked truly incredible, he as well decked out in black and silver. He wore a black long sleeved collared silk shirt with the right sleeve rolled up to his elbow while the left stayed all the way down hiding his scars; over top of an armor suit that no one could see and on top of the black shirt was a silver vest much like his sisters but this one was full length and button up with black buttons. The shirt was tucked into matte silver pants while the vest was left untucked. The pants were held up with black metal chains from which Lightning and Strike hung from. His weapons too had been changed to silver and black. The interchanging metals had been changed into interchanging silver and black components while the knuckles were silver and the grips were black. Those silver pants were tucked into black boots just like his sisters but with a slightly lower heel. The most dramatic change was the coat. It was a beautiful long, flat collared coat that reached his calves and hung off his shoulders. It was magnetized to his shoulder similar to the way his weapons magnetized to his hips and it had to since he didn't put his arms through the sleeves. It was a 'look' as he described it. I loved watched the coat as he moved. It was black but shot through with silver so that when the light caught the silver, it looked like lightning shooting through the dark sky and his personal emblem on the back where all the silver lightning strikes met. Two whips coiled together in a circle with the ends becoming snakes that ate each other's tails. He too wore his Grimm necklace that he had made and he wore kid leather gloves on his hands.

He looked like a very sexy ring leader. All he was missing was the top hat. But truly he looked magnificent and he loved the way he looked with his tousled hair and subtle makeup so it worked.

For Peyton, it was much simpler. His shirt was a tight long sleeved muscle shirt that clung to every defined muscle across his arms and abdomen and a v neck that dove between his rippling pectorals and showed his Grimm necklace to all and the peek of one newly healed scar poked into the open by his collarbone. The shirt looked like a giant black and silver motherboard. The shirt itself was silver but the designs were done in black with the complicated etchings of an internal piece of hardware. Peyton had been pleased and impressed when Elin showed him the fabric. His pants were made of a more durable fabric and were black with silver etchings held up with a black belt and his silver emblem belt buckle. Beneath both shirt and pants, Peyton wore a bodysuit similar to Elin's. Very thin but very strong body armor that I had commissioned just for them. Elise had her own armor.

Peyton now wore his hair half up and half down with the top tied back and then braided and the bottom left out loose. His beautiful brunette hair reach the bottom of his shoulder blades. On top of his black on silver shirt was an open black vest that on the inside was really pieces of hardware that Peyton's Semblance could command. On the outside it looked like a closer up version of his pants. The silver on black was much bigger and wear all the silver met in the back was Peyton emblem. Two curve blades ( I assume to represent Tech Slash) over top of a mountain surrounded by what I call technobabble. Multiple 1's and 0's that Peyton told me meant 'We remember the Mountain.' The mountain I now know means Mountain Glenn. The home that Peyton never spoke of.

His boots were the same as Elin and Elise but without any heel, resembling combat boots more and Elin had put black glove on Peyton's hand with padding on the knuckles so that when he punched, the spiked knuckles of Tech Slash would hurt him. Even his weapons now had a matte silver and black finish. He looked like the perfect complement to the twins. Then again, so did I.

Sticking with the silver and black trend that I had started I told Elin to have fun with it. When I had first seen the outfit laid out on my bed I had been a little nervous but I had loved it the minute I put it on. It was daring and new but still functional and I'll admit, quite beautiful.

The first thing I put on was a black bandeau top that was threaded with detailed loops of silver orchids. It was just tight enough to hold my bust in place without embarrassing me. My pants were the same design as the bandeau with tiny silver orchids but attached to the hips of the pants were the long strips of flat, matte black leather about three fingers wide. They wrapped around my figure alluringly four times. Starting with the first wrap they crossed just below my belly button, wrapping around my lower back and coming back to the front to cross just above my belly button, once again wrapping around my mid back, coming back to the front to cross just below my bust, right on my large puncture scar. Then the strips wrapped around my upper back on the bandeau and came up underneath my armpits to cross across my chest and the ends met on the back on my neck and were hooked onto the back of my gorget. Tooled along the diagonal leather were designs of single stem orchids. My pants were tucked into boots exactly like Elise's, heel and all. When I said it was time for a change, Elin had went big. I hadn't even had to tell him to get the boots steel toed and steel heeled. The last bit of my outfit was a short vest just like Elise's except I had a stiff collared sleeveless vest and the emblem on the back was mine. Around my neck was my Grimm necklace and I bore it proudly.

My emblem, done in silver was a single orchid bloom with a leafy stem going up and down and straight across into the circle of leafy vines that made up the outside of the emblem. Around the Orchid bloom was a stylization of the moon cycle, a quiet way of showing my heritage. Mum had always loved how the moon changed.

I had followed Peyton's lead with my hair. The top of it was pulled back into a half ponytail then braided while the rest of my hair remained loose and wild. My bangs, like Elise's, were brushed over my eyebrow but my right one instead of my left. On my hands were the same black, steel knuckled gloves with reinforced palms that Elise wore.

We looked incredible together; unique yet every outfit a statement of the person wearing it. I had paid a hefty price for them but it was a small fee for such an outcome.

Our sister teams were stunned by our appearance. Blake grinned and Yang winked while Jaune tried not to stare. Nora waggled her eyebrows and Ren just gazed appreciatively. "Wow… you guys… wow." Ruby said drinking in all the black and silver.

I chuckled. "Everyone ready?" The thrill of the competition shot through all my teammates. Even calm Ren.

"We're going to crush the competition!" Nora cried, crushing her right hand into her left. Pyrrha just smiled. She had won tournaments before and if I wasn't backing Elise, Pyrrha would be who I'd place my money on.

"C'mon. I want to see the first match." Elin said, walking towards the docks. There transporters carried spectators to the coliseum. Everyone came with us and we found seats in a relatively good section. The seats were comfortable and the food was great. I stuck to just a drink, knowing anything heavy would make me ill and I needed to be ready for our first round.

"Welcome all to Amity Coliseum! I am Professor Port of Beacon Academy, my partner is Doctor Oobleck also of Beacon and I would like to welcome you to the Vytal Festival Tournament!" We all cheered as the symbol for the Vytal Festival popped up on all the screens. It was a combination of all the Nations emblems into one. "Yes, welcome all. Before we begin, let us break down the rules of the tournament." Doctor Oobleck said, coming onto the screens. Both of them sat together with a microphone in front of them.

"First, this tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds. Teams, doubles and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant, the only attribute being tested in this tournament is skill." Port took over then. "The winners of the teams round will select two of their members to represent them in the doubles round. Followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance once again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in the hope of achieving victory for their kingdom!" Once again everyone cheered.

That's what we all wanted. Victory.

"Now, it is time to begin! Who will be our next reigning champion?!" Port boomed out as the randomization process began. I sat back in my chair as a team from Mistral and a team from Atlas were chosen to battle it out.

There was a small smile on my face. I wonder who we would face in the evening…

I hoped they would be ready.


	37. Chapter 37

The air inside the arena was cool and dry. I would have thought it would be hot with all the light beating down on it but it was a pleasant temperature. Across from us stood a team from Vacuo smirking at us. They were fit and tan in an array of sand colors and bright blues; an interesting contrast to our silver and black.

Team TCNO (Techno). An interesting choice. I observed the three males and the one female with an assessing eye. Elise, Elin and Peyton did the same.

The girl wore open metalwork gauntlets that tipped her fingers in wicked claws, the tall boy next to her carried what looked like two black cymbal with razor edges. The two boys next to them reminded me of Sun a lot, one carrying a set of cards and one carried two short swords.

"Hey there." The guy with two black cymbals said jovially. I nodded at him but remained silent. Their smiles grew wider.

"Our next match of the day is between team TCNO of Shade Academy and team DEEP of Beacon Academy! Oh, this will be an interesting match to be sure!" Professor Port boomed as the screens began to mix and match our terrain.

After going for a moment, all four settled on urban wasteland. I sucked in a quiet breath and sighed. "Home field advantage." I murmured and everyone nodded sadly. "Can we…" Peyton whispered, just barely reaching my ears.

"Oh yes, we can." I said, tipping my chin down. Elise gripped Serenity and slid the massive blade off her back. "3…"

Tech Slash's blades popped out of the sides, gleaming in the light.

"2…

Lightning and Strike uncoiled to the floor. Relaxing into an even stance, I let the pain flow through me, filling me with pure energy.

"1…"

I smiled.

"Fight!" Port boomed and Elin struck first. He lashed Strike out causing a wall of fire to hide us as we vanished into the broken terrain. Team TCNO raced forward as the fire dissipated only to find no trace of us.

I hid beneath a slab of concrete held up by a decapitated pillar. I could feel Elise, Elin and Peyton moving stealthily through the landscape to surround the unsuspecting team from Shade. They would have been more at home in a desert and they stuck together, surrounding the one girl on three sides.

Now why are they protecting you? I wondered, staring at the girl with the impassioned eyes of a predator. She wasn't weak but… perhaps she was their trump card.

I slid from shadow to shadow till I felt myself in the right place. Smiling I leapt from my hiding place and landed before the team. All of them faced me warily and the girl stared at me with surprise. She hadn't known I was there.

TCNO turned to fight me, advancing quickly, only to be caught in a trap when Elise and Peyton attacked from the back flanks. I started in on them, turning Orchid into a double ended bladed staff.

"What a sneak attack! Did you even see them move?" Oobleck asked Port.

My adrenaline was pumping through me and I could taste victory on my tongue. Then the young man with the two swords yelled. "Teesha! Now!" And the girl with the clawed gauntlets flung her hands out and made a grabbing motion.

Suddenly, I couldn't move.

My brain was telling my body to move or do something but it had lost all control of my body. A painful buzzing built beneath my skin. A similar phenomena was attacking Elise and Peyton. Pain twisted on Elise's face and her limbs began contorting strangely.

"Bring them down." The boy with the two short swords said gently. Teesha, obviously the girl who was attacking began to bring her outstretched arms down. Jerking spasmodically I began to sink down.

"Goodness gracious what's happening?" Oobleck called. "Well, my friend, it would seem that Teesha Reven has team DEEP in the grip of her Semblance!" My eyes jerked around in their sockets. My whole body was going haywire but I refused to drop my weapon.

"Teesha Reven of Shade, has the ability to control the electrical impulses inside the human body. Once she has you, you no longer have a say in what your body does." Port said and I grimaced. I stretched out a thread to Elin and wished I could laugh.

Elin was untouched! Teesha couldn't find him so he was unaffected by her Semblance. He had blend in with the background and was slowly sneaking closer to a prime spot.

Peyton's breath hissed between his teeth as the body with the two swords approached him. That's a bad idea. Then the boy with the strange cymbals started walking towards Elise. The boy with the deck of cards guarded the girl.

Perhaps it was the feeling of helplessness as I watched the enemy move toward my friends. Perhaps it was the adrenaline pumping through my body, heightening my battle sense. Perhaps I just wanted to win.

I jerked the hand with Orchid into the air and forced myself to click Orchid second trigger. Teesha, seeing me resist, focused down on me and the buzzing in my body became unbearable. I had to give in. So I smiled as I released my muscles and allowed Teesha to slam my arm down.

She smirked and the boy with the two swords raised them up to strike Peyton. He was met with resistance.

Peyton's arm went up and blocked the attack. Peyton's smile was devastating gentle as he punched the poor boy square in the chest. He flew high in the air and landed hard. The boy with the deck looked at Peyton surprised when I advanced on him.

Teesha was still recovering from taking three knives to her face. Her aura protected her from the blades but the forced had knocked her concentration and her Semblance stopped. "Elin!" I called as the card user squared up to take me on.

There was a swish and a whistle before Elin's whip coiled sharply around Teesha's waist. She gasped as Elin pulled her into the urban wasteland. "Teesha!" The boys called out, but they were quickly fighting for their own lives.

Peyton faced the boy wielding the two swords once he stood. "Noro! Be careful!" The boy who faced Elise called back before facing off with the short girl, his cymbals looking ominous.

"Oh and it looks like Teesha Reven is out of commission by ring out! It's now a three on four match! How will TNCO recover?" Port called as the young leader of team TCNO was flung out of the wasteland into the force field surrounding the arena. Elin did quick work. "Yes, well, team DEEP is one of Beacon's Elite teams who have complementary styles and Semblances. Their leader, Dahlia, has a Healing Semblance so if any team wants to win against them, they have to take her out first or she'll just keep healing herself and her team..." The card user grinned at me and I just winked at him.

"Unfortunately for Mr. Oneel Jenkins, Ms. Derivalle is also one of the most ferocious fighters to step on a battlefield."

Go big or go home, Dahlia. I split Orchid into four blades and zigzagged towards the card user who barely had time to fire his razor edged cards at me before I was on him. My beautiful silver blades split his cards in half. I was on him, whirling, kicking and striking so fast that he couldn't begin to figure out how to defend himself, draining his aura.

I didn't want the fight over too soon so smiling darkly I put Orchid back together into a simply double bladed staff and kneed Oneel in the stomach before disappearing back into the urban terrain. Peyton watched and followed suite. Elise thwacked the boy with the sharpened cymbals in the backs of his knees and knocked him down before she too vanished.

Then all was very quiet except for the three boy's harsh breathing.

I do have a slight flare for the dramatic.

I could feel the crowd before the arena. They were on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Fear and awe shrouded them. Where had we gone? Their eyes searched the terrain for a sign of our shadows moving among the broken buildings and cracked concrete.

They wouldn't find us though.

I met around Elin who smiled at me crazily. "Having fun, aren't we?" Peyton chuckled. "It's a performance, my dears. Let's shake them up a bit, shall we? Elin, you take lead on this. You've got the range. I'll jump them up with rifle shots. Keep them on their toes till you can lure them into the terrain. And make them vanish. Then throw them to the ring." Elise nodded grinning wildly.

Yes, it was a performance. The arena was our stage.

"Showtime." I said before crawling like a spider from shadow to shadow around the terrain. When I looked next, the three boys were back to back looking fiercely for us. A few times Oneel would shoot cards at a random place.

Shake them up.

I shot at Noro's foot twice and Oneel returned fire but I was no longer there. Elin's whip flicked out a just barely kissed the back of the boy with the cymbals calf. "Corbdin, behind you!"

When they turned, I fired at them from my new position and added up the time in my head. This game would begin to bore if used too long and Elise would get frustrated.

A little longer then.

I passed behind Peyton. "Tell Elise, wait for the signal and then attack from the north side. Force them towards me." He nodded and went to tell the others. Elin toyed with them and I kept them on their toes

When I was opposite to Elin and the others, I flashed Orchids blade into the eyes of the sword boy, Corbdin. "There!" He called, turning Oneel my direction. Cards raced by me and I waited and watched.

Then I heard them yell. Peeking around I saw Peyton go to hit Noro, who's swords just couldn't get up fast enough. Suddenly there was a black hole that he ran through and it vanished behind him, opening up not too far from the fight, closer to me. Interesting Semblance…

"Noro Velacrux portaled out of the way just in time!" Port called excitedly. Now Elise faced Corbdin with his strange cymbals again. His aura was already low from her strikes but I could see that she was waiting for a big finale.

Corbdin struck his cymbals together and suddenly Serenity was jerking out of Elise's hand. For a moment, they stood there like that: Corbdin with his cymbals facing outward, pulling Serenity forward and Elise gripping Serenity's handle, pulling back.

At his time, Elin engaged Oneel with his cards and were fairly evenly matched. Elin looked quite incredible with his coat flapping behind him and his shadowed and contoured face, all serious and beautiful. His boyfriend in turn was purely terrifying. I never realized how intimidating Peyton could be!

He was huge and dressed in black and silver gave him the appearance of being much bigger. His manly chiseled features were hard and his face was entirely devoid of expression. His hair flung behind him like a flag on a massive flagpole. For a second I felt bad for Oneel.

I think Doctor Oobleck was wrong. I wasn't the most ferocious on the battlefield. My team was ferocious.

With Elise like thinking, I watched Elise smile evilly before letting go of Serenity. I'm positive that the metal on her body was being pulled forward as well which made the result even more impressive.

Serenity hurtled point first toward Corbdin, who turned very pale, and close behind was little Elise. Many only thought that her arms were strong. They couldn't realize how wrong they were till the saw Elise push off from something. Her legs were just as powerful as her arms.

Add to that the pull of the magnetic cymbals and Elise covered ground fast.

Corbdin dropped the cymbals down and tried to drop into a counterattack stance so that he could wield the edges of his weapon but it was already too late.

Elise's hand closed around her Serenity, pivoting on her right foot, she spun in a wide arc and used Serenity like a baseball bat. The wide flat blade connected with the boy with so much power behind it, I was glad his aura wasn't completely drained because after that attack, it was gone and so was he. He hit the opposite ring wall hard enough to knock him unconscious. "Oh my! Elise Thayet has concussed Corbdin Riddle out of the arena and depleted his aura and he is now out for the game. Medical officials are on their way to check on him. It's two on four now folks and team DEEP isn't letting up!" Oobleck called followed by Professor Port.

"It would seem that the two left have forgotten what is hiding inside the wasteland." He said ominously and I smiled. Port had a flare too.

Noro had Oneel following behind him and they were portaling away from Elise, Elin and Peyton, who followed behind them closely, herding them to their doom till they were well within the urban terrain, then they too vanished. And I bid my time, waiting for the opportune moment.

Orchid's blades scraped the ground behind me, throwing up sparks. It was time to finish this fight.

Elin came up next to me. I held up a fist before him. "Wait…"

They came a little closer. "Wait…"

I could hear their labored breathing. Elin smiled. "Almost…"

They ran by the short concrete tunnel we hid beneath and threw down my fist. Lightning and Strike flung out and caught the two boys and with a mighty pull of his arms, the boys vanished into the darkness. There were gasps around the stadium and all eyes went to the aura board where quite suddenly, the boys aura's fell.

My attacks were quick and precise, before I took a step back and allowed Peyton and Elise to pick one boy up and throw him out of the ring.

The buzzer rang. "Team DEEP has won! A double knock out! What a fight! Team DEEP will be moving onto the doubles round! They look unstoppable folks!" We came from the shadows and into the light, the roars of thousands of people surrounding us.

I saw us on the screen and my chest nearly burst with pride. We looked amazing and we had won!

Victory was heady liquor. I wanted to dance, to sing, to sleep, and to find Oz and celebrate properly. But instead, I put a fist in the air and listened to the crowds cheer for us. Elise hugged me, then Elin and then Peyton picked all of us up in a bear hug.

"P-Peyton…" I gasped. "Oh sorry." He said blushing and setting us down.

We walked out of the arena with our heads held high and when we were greeted by our sister teams I almost cried I was so happy. I hadn't felt this way in ages. Blake jumped into my arms. "That was incredible!" She yelled in an unexpected outburst. I laughed and caught her tight. The babble I was surrounded with for once didn't frighten me. At least not at first.

I got stressed for a little and I begged off going to Raindance to celebrate so that I could go check on team TCNO. Elise and the lovebirds decided to follow me. Team TCNO had been worthy opponents and I wanted to acknowledge their fight.

Down in the healing rooms, I found them lounging around with ice bags on their formidable bruises. When I walked in they looked around alarmed till I held my hands up, clinging to Orchid. "Fights over." I said smiling. They looked at each other unsure. Teesha recovered first. "Congrats. You guys were really good." She said, testing out the tone.

Elise grinned. "Thanks. You guys were great too." I nodded. "Definitely put us in a pinch a time or two. We were wondering if you'd like to come grab some food with us." Noro glared at us. "We don't need your pity." He growled, and inside he was full of resentment. Teesha gave him a slashing look but said nothing.

I looked at Noro coolly. "Pity? This isn't pity. You were worthy opponents on the battlefield and I'm trying to show my appreciation for your skills." The boy looked away from me. Oneel half smiled. "Noro's just a sore loser." I cast a baleful look at Elise. "I understand that all too well." Elise pouted at me. "Hey!"

TCNO chuckled. Teesha's smile was warm. "We'd love to get some food with you. Definitely worked up an appetite, I'll tell you!" Right at that moment, Elise's stomach growled, sounding like an angry Ursa. Corbdin, with an icepack laying on his forehead grinned and tried to sit up. Elise had knocked him good.

He grew woozy and sighed. "You guys go ahead. I can't get up yet at the moment. Just bring me back something." He was disappointed and I could tell Noro was going to back out of going to dinner with us. It was my turn to grin. "I can fix that." I said, limping to the boy's side.

I could feel the other three team members trying to match up the image of me fighting and me walking and they weren't making any sense of it. I didn't say anything and left it to their imaginations. Let them think they wounded me or something.

Placing a hand on Corbdin's forehead, I Healed the concussion and swept away the symptoms in moments. I knew where the trauma had come from so it was simple to fix it. After that, he sat up and shook his head.

"Awesome." His grin reminded me strongly of Sun and I wished the monkey boy was with me. He would have related much better to these kids than I would.

The eight of us moved out of the room and headed for the fairgrounds, chatting about the fight and Semblances. Teesha and Elise hit it off and Corbdin tried to keep up with the conversation. Oneel was listening to Peyton rattle on about coding and technobabble while Elin translated. Only Noro remained aloof and I walked with him, easing the sting in his pride.

At the booth Medro was running, he finally opened up and talked to us, even cracking a few jokes. He leaned very close to Teesha and discussed sharpening methods with Elise.

I was content. I had completed my objective. TNCO would not think of us in fear outside of the arena. I never wanted that. Inside the ring, yes, I wanted people to respect and fear our abilities. Outside? No. Too much of my life has been colored with fear in every aspect of it for me to want it outside the arena. Team DEEP was quirky and funny and playful. That's what I wanted to show TCNO.

Seeing and feeling them relax filled me with untarnished pleasure.

I wanted to be respected. Not feared.

So when we parted ways after dinner and team TCNO promised to cheer for us with sincerity and Elise hooked her arm around my waist I wasn't surprised to hear her say. "Very clever, Mommy Quicksilver. Take the defeated out to dinner, show them the nice side to us and gain supporters as well as backers and friends. I like your style."

It made me laugh. "Is Daren here?" Elise smiled happily and nodded at another tent. Daren was there indeed, waiting for Elise no doubt but my heart thudded when I saw who he was conversing with.

As we approached, both Daren and Mykel stood up from their chairs. "Excellent fight, my friends!" Daren said jovially, sweeping around to steal Elise from me. I relinquished her regretfully but I faced Mykel with a smile on my face. "What a fight, Ms. Dahlia. It gave me… chills." Goosebumps ran up my arms and down my back. Mykel's smile widened. His eyes traveled up and down me quickly enough to be considered courteous. "You look fantastic. Mr. Thayet has an eye for artwork." Elin blushed happily but Peyton's eyes narrowed and his face remained blank.

"I'm sure you will continue to prove that Beacon is the superlative Huntsman academy. I look forward to seeing you more." His gray eyes gazed at me like he was searching for something. "Thank you, Mykel." I replied back just as gentle as he. "Are you competing?" He shook his head and his thick hair swish pleasantly. "No. I prefer for whoever I fight in the future to be unaware of my full battle potential." My smile was now very wolfish. It was… fun to go back and forth with Mykel. He didn't scare me nearly as much anymore. "It would be someone's great regret to think that my team's potential can be measured in a friendly competition." I played with the claw on my Grimm necklace, reminding him that my team has already been tested in combat.

He took my hand and kissed it long, pressing all his lips to my knuckles. "I'm very sure that you are correct, Ms. Dahlia. Have a pleasant night." As he walked away I fought down the urge to go after him and either hug him or kill him and I caught Peyton's eye. He struggled with the same concept but I believe without the hugging part. He looked at Mykel Dionard like a hound looks at a rattlesnake in his path.

"That one bears keeping a keen eye on." He murmured and I nodded, Elin missing the exchange as he watched Elise melt happily into Daren's arms. Brother instincts struggled in him and Peyton fixed that by pulling the shorter boy in for a passionate kiss.

After that, Elin was quite happy to forget his sister's canoodling.

* * *

I entered Oz's office in high spirits. He sat at his desk with holo screens projected before him, sipping his coffee; waiting for me.

Knowing that no one would be coming, I boldly strode up and sat on his lap and gave him a kiss. "Hello, darling." He said with laughter in his voice. "Hello, my love. So, did you see me?" He set his coffee down and wrapped his arms around me. "You think I would miss my lover fighting for the honor of my school in the tournament? Especially looking like this?" He chuckled, tracing the straps of my outfit. "I have it recorded."

It popped up and I watched the fight from a different perspective. Truly, it was a performance. I knew that we could have beaten them in moments just from watching. "It was mean of you to play with them, but most impressive." It was sort of creepy when you watched. We were there then gone and not even a shadow could be found, since it was the shadows in which we hid.

Black and silver. Team DEEP was beautiful and terrifying. It was also strange to here Professor Port warn the opposing team of 'what was hiding within the wasteland' with such a portentous tone. "You were positively magnificent."

The kiss I gave him left him gasping.

"Truly you are ferocious in battle. Be it arms or tongues." He murmured, leaning back in his strange chair. I nuzzled his left cheek with my nose and he smiled, sighing contently. Happiness flowed between us. Then I yawned.

"Come on. Up." He said, prodding me up. I groaned and stood up, watching him turn his desk to its dormant mode. I pulled the lever and hobbled up the stairs in front of him. I had practically moved into his room.

A second set of my toiletries was already in his bathroom, changes of my clothes were tucked in his dresser, my spare boots were by his bookshelf, my herbs, teas and tinctures were all in his kitchen and my scent was sufficiently melded to the room that any other Faunus would know that his room was mine.

We began to change and I quickly haphazardly threw on the white button up that I had claimed and settled to watch him change. Gods, I loved the way he moved.

Playfulness crept into me as he was pulling his undershirt off over his head and I ducked in real quick and gently nipped his hip bone. He jumped but only looked at me. I did this again several times, licking or gently nipping any sensitive exposed skin but he plain refused the invitation. He kept his emotions well in check and kept getting ready to sleep.

He must be really tired, I thought wonderingly. Oz never refused an invitation, not since I had come back from Mountain Glenn. I shrugged it off, knowing I would get him later. I stood and hobbled to water the plants before we went to sleep. He had kept the beautiful Orchids flowering since I had known him. I suspected either magic or more likely a dust compound.

But before I could touch the watering can, I was suddenly pressed up against the cold glass. I gasped at the chill that ran through my body when the cold seeped through my thin nightgown across the sensitive skin of my breasts. It was a wonderful contrast to the warm body pressed against my back. A gentle hand wound itself in my hair and tugged slightly.

"Did you really think you were going to get off that easy?" A very husky voice murmured in my ear. Excitement raced through me and I was no longer cold at all.

He turned me around and the hand that held my hair then cupped the back of my head gently and the arm that had pinned me was wrapped around my lower back. He kissed me and I saw the fire in his loving brown eyes. "Oh, I hoped I wouldn't." He smiled and kissed me again before picking me up, letting me wrap my legs around his waist, and carrying me to the bed.

We made love; he kissed me goodnight and then promptly fell deep asleep. The adrenaline had carried me far but I was tired. I had a wonderful day full of excitement and victory and love. So when I read the message that beeped on my scroll at three in the morning I knew that I had to cherish the memory of that day.

I fell asleep, my arms wrapped tightly around Oz, wondering why General Ironwood had messaged me.

_Ms. Derivalle, congratulations on your triumph today. If you and your team would please meet me on my command ship tomorrow at noon, I would be much obliged. I may have an assignment that requires team DEEP's skills and knowledge. Respectfully, James Ironwood_


	38. Chapter 38

"Do we have to?" Elise groaned when I found my team in the morning. She was fresh from the shower and Elin moved in behind her. Elise could care less about covering herself up so she strode through the room stark naked to get to her clothes.

I mean, I'm in love with our Headmaster spending a majority of my nights with him, Peyton was gay and Elin was her brother. We had stopped caring about the rest of the team seeing us naked long ago. We've all seen each other naked before and it was no big deal now. The only thing I regretted were all the scars that I could see that hadn't been there before the Tunnels. The claw marks and bite marks, the scrapes and scratches that contoured her body.

Once Elise was dressed and her hair was beginning to dry, Peyton sat on the bed and motioned for her to sit. It was a nice picture. Elin's boyfriend braiding his twin's hair. Really brought home how close we all were to each other. No one was excluded.

Made me wish that Blake were there but she was with her team, watching other battles. Enjoying the tournament.

"Yes, Elise. We have to go. General Ironwood says he may have an assignment for us and if we are to stay in his good graces, we need to show him that we value him." I had already had this argument with Oz that morning. "We also need to show him that we aren't at his beck and call. We will not be four new special operatives that he can command." Peyton rumbled. I smiled at him and Peyton relaxed.

Ever since Ironwood had tried to split us, Peyton was defensive of our team which made my heart warm. "Don't worry, my darlings. I have a plan for General Ironwood that should put him in his place and show him that we are not his weapons of war."

Elise smiled. It was a smile as sharp as her sword. "He won't even know what hit him." Peyton tied off her braid and gently place her stilettos in her hair. "Come dears. Chins up. Before we meet with Ironwood, we have a few competitions to win." I said grinning.

The singing contest would be first and Elin and I were quite thrilled to try. Then the art contest would come next and Peyton and I already had our pieces to turn in for judgement. Then in the evening would be the dance competition and no matter what Ironwood said or did, I would not miss _that_. Daren would be crushed.

"I can't wait to see In Noctem again." Elin said stepping from the shower room. His lean muscled body stretched and rolled. He too bore the scars of veteran. His left arm looked somehow inhuman. None of his old skin remained and now it was a crosshatch of scar tissue, varying in colors from deep wine red to burgundy, to soft pink and silvery white.

Peyton walked into the shower, humming Elin's song for the contest. The sound soothed all of us in strange ways. We were okay.

"Hey, Dally. What are you singing for the contest?" Elise said, adjusting the metal plate to settle more comfortably on her hips. I stood and stretched myself, limping over to where she sat. "Well, I-" She traced her fingers along the ridge of a deep scar that ripped across my left waist side, emphasized by the diamond shape the leather straps made around it. Hesitant fingers.

It was like a butterfly's touch, following the line around and back. I had almost forgotten, looking at my teams' scars and pain, that I was marked as well. There were scars that I hadn't born before our time in the Tunnels. Scars that Elise, Elin and Peyton could look at; that Oz could look at, and think 'I'm so glad she survived'. After all, I thought that too.

Elise, Elin, Peyton and yes, Oz with his battlefield of scars, I looked at them all the time and thought 'Good Gods, I'm so glad you survived all of that.' Since every scar could've been a death wound.

I pulled Elise into my side and let her bury her face into it as her arms wrapped around my hips. We were such melancholy girls. "Scarborough Fair." I said quietly. Elin, dressed and ready, saw us hugging and came up behind us and put his arms around us. "I'm singing: Scarborough Fair. Remember how much you liked that song when I sang it?" Elin smiled and kissed my cheek. "You're gonna kill it, Mommy." I kissed his cheek back and grinned.

"Have you seen Peyton's piece yet?" I asked. The siblings shook their heads. Peyton had been hiding it from us, wanting the full effect of our surprise when it would be presented in the gallery.

I had trouble picking my piece before I settle on a lovely watercolor picture of the waterfall in Vasilius that turned to rainbows in the light. Just seeing it brought me back to that wonderful time with the Thayet's and my golden memories of normalcy and wonder.

Peyton came out and dressed quickly. "I hope you guys are ready. The contest starts in an hour." He said, kissing the top of Elin's head and running a hand over my hair. I could feel the warmth radiating from his chest and his soul.

Today would be fun and we would deal with Ironwood's request on our own terms.

* * *

There was a wonderful turn out for the miscellaneous contests and I could feel Elin's nervous energy when he saw the seated crowd. Near the fairgrounds was a small outdoor concert hall and it was full of people. Those who didn't get the provided seats had brought picnic blankets to sit on.

"Elin Thayet, singing a mashup of songs for our enjoyment!" The announcer called as Elin stepped forward onto the stage. Everyone was there to support him, and we eagerly awaited for him to sing. The music started; pianos and acoustic guitar. The Elin began to sing.

There was a short applause when he started but we managed to hold it down. Wow, he was amazing! I looked at Peyton who was grinning ear to ear with his heart bursting with pride. Elin had a wonderful, earthy tenor and he sang with his heart. I could hear the emotion in his voice even if the words didn't quite match up with Elin's feeling for Peyton. (A/N: See bottom of chapter 39 for song list)

When he sang his final note, I used all the air in my lungs three or four times cheering for him. But I was nothing next to Elise and Peyton. I'm fairly certain that the people in the arena could have heard those two yelling their claims to Elin.

When he came down he was jittery and oh so happy. His boyfriend swept him off his feet and I had to look away when Elin touched his forehead to Peyton's. Envy was an evil emotion but gods sometimes I wish I could do that with Oz somewhere besides behind closed doors.

_Things will be different once I graduate…_

_Then what?_

I thought as I took to the stage. _Well, I'll be a Huntress_. I approached the mic and spaced out when they announced me. I barely heard the song start. _I'll go on missions and save people_. When I sang I could feel the air in my lungs coming and going but I didn't even hear my voice. I knew I was singing passionately but strangely enough I felt nothing. _I'll marry Oz and we'll have children together_. I knew the lyrics and I could feel my mouth forming the words. It was a song from my childhood. A lullaby my mother had sung for me to learn my basic herbs. _He'll work here still and I'll take missions when he can watch the kids._ Everyone around me felt muted and I couldn't see their faces.

Then towards the edge of the song, my nightmares crept in. _Oz dead, kids dead; Ghost, my little brother Ghost, chewing on their little bones; blood across the room. You can never truly leave the Family. They would always find me…_

When the song was over, the crowd brought me back. I didn't even know that I had stopped singing. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I had sung in a _contest_ and didn't remember any of it!

"Go Dahlia!" Elise roared. I blushed, bowed and then made my way off stage. It felt like I was floating. "Wow, Dahlia that was … powerful." Jaune said coming up to clap me on the back. Pyrrha's eyes were glowing. "You have such a lovely voice!" Peyton came up behind her. "That's why the twin's bullied her into this."

Elise beamed at our sister teams, proudly admitting her bullying. There were chuckles and Nora pounced on Elise for a hug. It was a little terrifying sometimes to see those two together. United, Nora and Elise could destroy anything in the world if they chose.

"She's always been a wonderful singer." Blake said so quietly I'm not sure anyone but me heard. She came up next to me and brushed her arm near mine. I gave a small rumble in my chest. Blake returned it with a purr, just like what we did as children.

I felt Blake in my soul and remembered all the nights when her Mum and my Mum, her adopted Aunt was working late so when it was Blake's bedtime I would sit next to her and hold her hand, singing quietly, badly made up lullabies or ones Mum had taught me to my blood sister.

Blake remembered Scarborough Fair from when we were just children. It had been our favorite.

It was good for me to remember that not all of my childhood was riddled with pain and regret. There were moments of light in the darkness. Sensory images that reminded me of home. The feeling of Mom running a brush through my thick black hair, her strokes strong and relaxing. My Father playing games with me in our tiny yard. The looks on their faces when I had chewed the leg off a bar stool during my teething phase.

Yes, Omar hadn't always been a madman. I remember.

He used to come home when I was still a toddler and I would run on my little baby legs out to see him and he would pick me up and swing me around laughing before he would kiss my cheek. He had loved me so much. Mum and I had been his world. His face had been kind and his eyes, the ones he and I shared, had been so warm, his hands always gentle.

Then in a day he changed and after that neither Mum, nor Omar ever looked upon me with love again. I hadn't been old enough to even consider holding a weapon when Omar began to train me. Gods, I had been young.

Mum cared for me in a fierce way after Omar had changed. I was already a warrior in her eyes. She wanted me to be strong for what I would face and despite her coldness, I still think of her fondly, regretting that she had died because of me.

I remembered that she had been beautiful with ice blue eyes and curly black brown hair. Her Wolf ears had always been soft to the touch.

"Weiss is up next!" Ruby called to us, startling me, motioning for us to take our seats before fixing her eyes on the lovely pale girl on stage. Weiss was solemn but inside still as a calm pool. Just like how Daren felt while he was dancing.

I reached out and let her calm wash into me, reminding me to live in the here and now. The past, well, needed to stay in the past.

Blake sat next to me on my left with Elise on my right and we watched enraptured as Weiss sang Mirror, Mirror. Her voice was enchanting. A high soprano as clear and cutting as a cold winter wind.

Even though I had sang in the contest, I wanted Weiss to win. Her song stirred feelings in me that I hadn't felt since coming to Beacon. Since finding my friends, finding my sister, falling in love and figuring who I really was beneath the assassin.

_Tell me who's the loneliest of all._

Once I would have said that was me. Now?

I clasped Blake's hand in mine and smiled at her, revealing those fangs that I tried to hide. And Blake smiled back, showing me her little ones. She filed hers down but I could never stand the sound in my skull of a file on my teeth. Besides, they were another weapon and I never threw away a perfectly good weapon.

_Memory Flash: Losing Orchid. Backed into a corner. One man. Flash frame of me leaping onto him, grabbing the back of his head. Click a frame forward yanking his head back to expose his neck. Click as I slowly bit down on his soft throat, those sharp fangs piercing the skin. The feeling of hot blood in my mouth. His screams were cut off as my jaw clenched down, crushing his windpipe. Pulling my head back with his jugular still in my mouth. Blood spraying, gurgling breaths, sirens in the distance. Someone called in an animal attack. What else could it be with the man's throat ripped out?_

I shuddered and Elise looked at me worried. I covered it with a grin and a wink. She smiled too, thinking of course that it was Weiss' song that had given me shivers. Blake was less deceived. Her tawny amber eyes told me that she knew and she ran her thumb over my fingers in a soothing motion. Between the song and my sister, the weight of that life I had taken so brutally, lifted enough that I could breathe.

I looked at her gratefully and slowly blinked. _I love you._

She smiled and slowly blinked back at me. _I love you too._

When Weiss sang her final note, we stood and cheered for her. She seemed startled and I understood. Whenever she had performed before it had been for her Father's cronies who clapped politely. Her friends cheered raucously, making sure everyone who was watching knew that Weiss Schnee had people who loved her in the audience.

She beamed, curtseyed and waltzed off the stage. Her cheeks were rosy and there was a sparkle in her pale blue eyes that was so rarely there. It warmed her face and it made me think back months ago to when I had first seen the little ice queen.

_She used to seem so aloof and cold… take a look at her now._

In a throng of her friends and teammates congratulating her and praising her for something that she was proud of. She was warm and sweet and there was no coldness in her now. Unless you crossed her.

"C'mon, Mommy Quicksilver. We gotta go turn in our pieces for the gallery." Peyton said nudging me. I looked at Blake. "Go on. We'll all be there tonight to see you and Mr. Glass destroy the competition." My heart leapt. The Dance Competition was my goal. I wanted to win that contest. Daren and I had been working on it since we had heard about it.

"See you there, little sister." I said so only her Faunus ears could hear me. She squeezed my hand and let go. "C'mon, Dally! We gotta head back to the room to grab the art!" Elin hollered at me. Elise came up to me and took the hand that Blake had just let go of and pulled me close to her.

My left arm snaked around her shoulders and her right arm wrapped around my waist. Such a familiar pose.

No, I wasn't lonely. I had a family of the heart and soul. My wonderful family made up of crazy teenagers, teachers, my lost blood sister and my love who was my headmaster.

Who could be lonely with all that?

* * *

We stood at attention in Ironwood's command ship before his desk. We weren't the only ones there. A squadron of Atlas militia stood to my left and Ironwood stood behind his desk looking at a map of Remnant behind him.

My eyes traced familiar borders and towns. I had been many places in my years. I knew the feel of each Kingdom but none of them had ever felt like home. Beacon felt like home. Vasilius felt like home. The little inn in Mistral felt like home. But Vale, nor Vacuo, nor Mistral nor Atlas nor even Menagerie felt like home.

Especially Atlas. Or what used to be Mantle.

"Thank you for coming team DEEP. Congratulations on moving onto the next round of the tournament. It was a stunning victory." I smiled and nodded while the rest of my team remained blank faced as they bowed their heads. I could have crowed with pride.

They were professionals now.

"I called you here because you are an abnormality in our system. You're a first year team but you behave and perform like a fully-fledged Huntsman team. And that provides us with some unique opportunities." His scroll went to his desk which read it and suddenly there was a red dot north of the black dot that I knew was Mountain Glenn.

I had to steady the twins and Peyton steadied me. The red dot was Vasilius, the Thayet's home village. There were many black dots surrounding Vale and the other Kingdoms. I figured those represented attempts at expansion, attempts that had failed.

But why was there a red dot on Vasilius?

"As you can see, we've received word from a passing Huntsman that it seems Vasilius is having a few Grimm troubles. Not any sort of big deal and since he was there, the huntsman took care of it."

We knew of the Grimm troubles. Mama Thayet had told us about a Beowolf or two in the woods and an aquatic Grimm taking refuge in the lake but nothing major. No causalities, just annoyances. I nodded, wondering what he was getting to. I hated it when men beat around the bush.

"We've now asked to receive hourly reports from Vasilius to ensure that there is no other problems. It seems there were more Grimm than the Huntsman had taken care of. We believe there is a nest out there near the village and that's where the Grimm keep coming from. Since, you, Mr. and Ms. Thayet, are from the village we were hoping to call upon you and the others in your team to go clear it out." I looked at Elise and Elin, noting that they had relaxed hearing the explanation.

Their mother was fine. They nodded at me and Peyton nodded but was wary. Something didn't seem right to him.

"We accept." I sensed the squadron leader's frustration and resentment. Ironwood nodded and I could feel his triumph. He thought he had us. "Excellent. Now there are no more than seventy people in the village so if the threat is too great, evacuation would be simple but I doubt it will come to that." I nodded. "You will be taking Strike Team Charlie with you for backup in case there are more Grimm than we think."

I touched the necklace, the light bouncing off the pretty glass beads, bring the eye to see the broken teeth and claws that had been embedded in my flesh by the Grimm I had decimated. "Oh General, I don't think we will have any trouble with the Grimm."

He gulped, nodded and turned to his squad leader. I turned as well.

The entire squadron wore the Atlas Military high tech uniforms, different colored stripes representing what they are be it technicians, snipers, grunts, or of course their leader who had black stripes. "Squad Leader Ryke. Dahlia will be your commanding officer while you are on this mission. See that you listen and observe her."

What a double sided statement.

Ryke, seething with resentment, saluted. "Yes sir."

Ironwood turned back to us. "You leave at first light and should report back in the evening before last light. Dismissed." I bowed, turned on my heel and walked away with my team following me closely. "Well, it's an excuse to see home but why do I feel like we are being tested?" Elin murmured.

"Because we are. Ironwood wants to get a sense of how we'll work in the field. Giving us command was an interesting move but it's to see if we can command the respect of those in the Militia." Peyton said back, typing on Tech Slash's panels.

"Actually… he gave Dahlia command, not the team." Elise said thoughtfully. Peyton nodded already speeding through coding sequences. "Peyton… are you hacking into Ironwood's system?" I said incredulously. His wicked grin made me chuckle. "Of course. I have an itch to know what Ironwood's plans are."

Elin ran a hand through his blonde hair and sighed. "Dahlia, you need to be careful. He wants you in his army and he won't stop until-"

"He wants to sleep with me and have me run missions for him. One of those he can have on my terms. I decide if and when I work for him and if and when I don't. And he will not take me from my team. He can flatter me, he can give me command of whatever he wants but I'm nothing without you guys."

Elin's mouth dropped and Elise smirked. "I wonder what Oz has to say about Ironwood's interest in you." I groaned. "For such a collected man, he can get so protective!" Elise wiggled with joy, the serious moment gone in a millisecond.

I was very lucky that Elise was not one to be jealous. Sometime Daren and I moved very intimately and even Oz felt flares of jealousy when he saw us dance together. Elise though, with Elise-like thinking, knew that I loved Oz with all my soul and that Daren and I were just close friends who met in a bar one night.

And Daren looked at Elise and found everything he'd been searching for.

I looked out the window of our transporter and traced the patterns of orchids across my weapon, enjoying the feeling of the rough ridges and smooth metal beneath my fingers. My constant companion.

My scroll beeped. I had two messages.

_Oz: I'll be in the box seat in the back. Good luck sweetling._

I went hot and cold with excitement. Oz would see me dance. Somehow that made me much more competitive.

When I looked at Daren's message I grinned and rolled my shoulders a few times.

_Daren: You ready to bring it?_


	39. Chapter 39

Backstage with the other competitors, Daren used his Semblance to fix my leg. It would last for till midnight. Plenty of time to wreck these poor dears from the floor up.

There was a light in Daren's eyes, the fire of competition. The same fire that burned in Elise's eyes in the arena. We stretched and did our breathing exercises. There were three levels to the competition. First the singles. Then the two duo rounds.

Your score was your score in the single round and the duos rounds added up. So we both had to kill the singles then come in, hit the first duo hard and then finish them in the second duo round with In Noctem. The interesting twist was you didn't know what song you were dancing to in the singles and the first duo round till the song came on. They could pull from any genre from any kingdom. The second song was the song that you had to prepare for the judges.

I was excited. More than excited. I was ready.

For the singles round we were dressed in a basic black pair of canvas dance pants, a cropped black tank top for me and a full tank top for him and a sleeveless hooded jacket with The Dance in multicolored rhinestones with a silhouette of a man and a woman held close, one leg stretched out behind them and one of their arms reaching up to touch fingertips together.

Plain black dance shoes were on my feet and they could feel the rhythm of every song. I was dancing to myself backstage, relaxing, touching Daren's aura and letting his calm wash over me. Tonight he would be my center.

"Contestant 38: Daren Glass!" Daren grabbed my hand, kissed my knuckles and winked at me. "Wish me luck, Quicksilver." I ran my free hand through his windswept ash gray locks. "Knock 'm dead." I said before he vanished onto the stage. The crowd went wild and I wasn't surprised to hear mostly female voices cheering for him.

Daren was handsome, suave and probably the finest dancer I've ever met. He was also one hell of a teacher, partner and friend. Of course, he was a crowd favorite.

This was not his first competition of course but it was our first one together. The crowd went quiet as the music started up. At first, I thought it was going to be an operatic song and winced. Those were hard to pull off on a moment's notice.

Then I heard the words in a low baritone: "Let the Beat drop…" And I sighed in relief. They were favoring a hip hop style from Atlas and the Latin style music of Vacuo.

The song was of a medium tempo with heavy beats and pops in it mixed in with the opera soprano singing, melding into a techno movement. The lyrics were just at home in Raindance and so were Daren's moves.

Good Gods, no man should be able to move his body like that.

I reached out and felt around for Elise. She was towards the front of the audience, totally enraptured. I managed a quick peep when the music paused for a dramatic moment and Daren froze in his pose with his hips jutted forward, exposing his hipbones, staring intensely at someone in the crowd. Even when the music started up a heartbeat later, his eyes stayed fixed on that one person.

_He's not dancing for these people. He's dancing for Elise._

I searched till I found her in the third row. He eyes were wide and fix upon her boyfriend, mouth partially open in awe. _Yes, Elise, that is all yours._

The others were there in the audience around her, cheering for my partner, but Elise was totally still, hypnotized by the gorgeous guy on stage. I smiled at the cliché. One girl in the crowd, the attractive performer and out of all the girls in the crowd, his eyes found hers.

Tonight Daren was my center, but Elise was his.

When he finished his song and dropping into his final pose, the crowd went crazy. The judges were nodding and whispering to each other. Before he walked off the stage, he pointed at Elise with both index fingers and thumped his chest with his right hand.

He came backstage breathing heavily, seething with adrenaline and pride. He had killed it. "Contestant 39: Dahlia Derivalle!" He grabbed my shoulders and smiled with that insane smile of his. "Go get 'em, Quicksilver."

He backed up and I jumped high, tucking my knees up and clapped a couple times, hyping myself up.

I was going to own that stage.

I pulled my hood up so that my hair spilled in front of my shoulders and I ran out on stage. I was greeted with the bright lights of the stage and the rolling darkness in the audience. I could feel my friend's right in front of me.

The music started and they held their breath in anticipation. The beginning of the song was just a double timed beat before hitting a slow heavy beat as that beat dropped and the lyrics started. I don't know where this song was from but I'm fairly certain that it was not an appropriate song for a dance contest.

I shoved those thoughts away and focused on the beat. The beat would guide my moves and in my head I went _screw it_. If Daren could pull off sexy but clean then so could I with this song.

_Push up to my body, sink your teeth into my flesh (Get undressed, t-taste the flesh)._

Memories of the flashback earlier tried to attack but I turned that weight into a counterbalance on which my body moved. This was a sex song, no doubt about it but I was going to make sex look professional.

_Hold me up against the wall, give it 'til I beg, give me some more._

I crossed my wrists above my head and rolled my body slowly. I was going to let everyone in the audience know that there was more than just terror in sinking your fangs into someone. Sometimes, there is pleasure.

I pulled out some dance moves that Daren would have called 'risqué' but from the feelings of approval coming from the judges, they were enjoying the sensual nature of my dance but were relieved to see that I wasn't preparing to do a strip routine on stage. I stayed strictly hip hop with sex appeal thrown in.

I moved my body, popping and rolling, dropping down and using my flexibility to emphasize the animalistic quality of the music. My hood fell back and my long loose hair became another prop in the show. It the light, each strand glowed like silver wire.

Even my fangs which I usual hid became a sort of prop. Many would think that they were fake, just a statement for dancing but for those who knew, those sharpened canines were all mine.

So at key moments in the dance, as I was rolling or bending my body, I peeled my upper lips back and exposed them to the audience. Everyone applauded passionately. But it was nothing compared to the cheers I got when the song finished and I stood legs wide, my left thumb in my waistband, running my other hand slowly through my hair.

Then I broke set and jumped on the balls of my feet smiling widely. I waved, threw kisses at the audience and then ran off. I blew a kiss at the private box that I could feel Oz residing in. Even from the stage, I easily reached out to him. He was on fire. I grinned and walked confidently off stage.

Daren caught me up in a tight hug, spinning me around. "That was a hell of a performance, lady luck. What was that song doing in the lineup though?" He said setting me down. "I know?! It seems so out of place but, I made it work." His pale blue gray eyes were full of energy and laughter.

"Yes, you did. So tell me, is our beloved Oz out there somewhere?" If I hadn't already been flushed from dancing, I would have turned red. "In the private box in the back. That's where he said." Daren enjoyed teasing me about Oz but when he had met the man for his interview, they had found each other quite companionable.

Maybe it was a shared position of being in love with a student of theirs. After all, once Daren started teaching, Elise would be one of his students. For that matter so would I.

The thought made me laugh and Daren just quirked an eyebrow at me as he handed me a towel. I wasn't sweating but I ran it over my face anyways. "One down, two more to go. And these we do together." I held up a fist and Daren bumped it with his. "Two till victory, Quicksilver. No one can touch us."

His confidence flowed into me and the call for the second round began. I had been second to last in the singles round and now all the people who were just competing in the singles were sitting in the audience to see the duos. The competition was heating up.

"We're on after these first guys. You ready?" He murmured stretching again to keep his muscles loose and warm.

"Bring it." I said fiercely following his lead and stretching. I especially stretched my right leg. It had the tendency to tense up as if it was preparing for the pain all the time. There would be no pain though, not till later.

"I hope it's a fast song. I need to move and get all this out before In Noctem." I said, breathlessly. Daren agreed wholeheartedly. My feet were still feeling the rhythm and gods I just wanted to _dance_.

So, well, I did. I just started randomly moving my body in the most awkward way I possibly could, trying to shake it all off. Daren saw this and had to bite down on his hand to keep from laughing.

When I was finished, I was still pumped but no longer jittery. "That, my friend, was glorious."

"Next up: Daren Glass and Dahlia Derivalle from The Dance!" We went out on stage and the music started as we ran out. They didn't want us to have time to coordinate and they wanted to test our reflexes.

What they couldn't know is that we knew the song. From the first beat and clap of the song we looked at each other and grinned.

It was a song straight out of the urban cities of Vacuo. It was street dance style, very hip hop but Daren and I had plenty of the more traditional moves thrown in for flavor. We hadn't done that particular routine in a while since both of us enjoyed the traditional style dances like salsa but it came back to us quickly.

We even incorporated some fighting moves into the dance. A few punches, toss over kicks, dodges and face offs. I let the attitude of the music use me like an instrument. I felt sassy and hyped, ready to dance and fight in equal turns.

And Daren, God of Dance, moved just as well as I did, each pop, lock and drop, matching me flawlessly in attitude and style. We stomped and shook, rolled and rocked, flipping and throwing in bits of fancy foot work whenever we thought it appropriate. We knew each other well enough to roll with any additions. We excelled at freestyle for that reason.

I wanted to laugh at the differences in our two performances. Soon we would do In Noctem which was a solemn Ballet performance and here we were doing street hip hop.

Talk about a 180.

We finished in a pose with me on my knees facing the audience, knees wide, looking sassy with a raised eyebrow and Daren behind me, feet on either sides of my legs with his hands in the air like he just did a throw down.

_Nailed it._

Daren helped me to my feet and we dashed off stage as another team went on, tango music beginning behind us. I took a deep breath in and let it out. "One more." Daren nodded doing the same as me. "We'll leave them weeping. We go on last. Since ours is such a slow song, they figured we'd be a good way to end the night." I nodded, feeling the rush earlier begin to fade.

He pushed me towards the girls dressing room, grinning. "Go get dolled up, Quicksilver. By the time you're finished it'll be time for us to go on." I stuck my tongue out at him and walked lightly to the dressing room.

There were plenty of other girl lounging around waiting for their first round and one other girl getting ready for her prepared dance. She was stunning in a royal purple dress that matched her hair with a high slit up her right and a low cut bodice. I noticed though, as I'm sure others did, that her dress was strapless.

_There always one isn't there?_ I sent a quick prayer up that she wasn't doing a fast dance. I didn't like secondhand embarrassment and that's all I would get if her dress fell while she was onstage.

Instead of dwelling on her, I went and found my costume. It was a lovely piece of art that Elise had created with Daren. The bodice was black with touches of gray around the fringes and down the front in a lattice like pattern. It was held up by mesh that came right up to the hollow of my throat, giving the look of strapless with no chance of a slip up. The skirt was a ruffled many layered tutu made of black silk with gray edges so that the underneath of it looked gray when I did my standing splits. My point shoes were all black with a gray sheen to them and black ribbons crisscrossing up my calves, reminiscent of my new attire.

My hair was smoothed back and done into a large sock bun at the crown of my head, which had a fake black rose tucked into it dripping with fake black gems. And for the final touch, Elin had drawn up my makeup. The artist back stage was impressed with the detailed instructions Elin had written her and when she was finished, I rested my chin on my hands and looked for my face since I didn't recognize the creature in the mirror.

The woman whose face bore resemblance to mine in the mirror had shadow in eyelids with black wings that extended out to her temple and the sharp points faded to gray. There were deep shadows beneath her prominent cheekbones and she was very pale. Her nose was contoured and highlighted to look sharper, her eyebrows highlighted but color untouched as the darkened silver was a hard color to match. The blackened silver lashes were coated in midnight black mascara and had fake lashes glued to them to make them look thicker. She could hear whenever she blinked. Finally her lips were painted as deep a black as her eye makeup.

Only my eyes didn't change. They remained that wonderful dark blue that my father had gifted me.

I smiled in the mirror and then closed my lips. I looked like something out of a vampire novel.

And Daren was right. By the time I was perfectly made up, the room was crowded with girls getting undone from their performances. I watched for a solid five minutes as a girl ungelled her hair from a neon green spiked Mohawk.

I stepped carefully out of everyone's way and flounced out of the room. I had to flounce. It's impossible not to do so in pointe shoes.

Daren looked striking in his black dance suit. His normally wild hair was now carefully combed and swept to the side. There was even subtle makeup on him, making him look haunting as well.

"Well, Quicksilver. I will say. You clean up nice. Even if it doesn't look like you are actually you." He said grinning, his eyes flicking up and down before fixing on my face. I went to kiss his cheek when he dodged and laughed. "Forgive me dear, but black lipstick doesn't come off easy."

My teeth flash white in the black of my lips. "Indeed. You ready?" I asked and he held his hand out. I gently place my hand in his and we faced the curtain together. I took a deep breath in, reached for Daren and relaxed.

"Our final performance of the night: Daren Glass and Dahlia Derivalle of The Dance performing In Noctem!"

Then I stepped out of the stage, released Daren's hand and got in my beginning pose before I let In Noctem sweep me away.

_Carry my soul, into the night_

_May the stars guide my way_

_I glory in the sight_

_As Darkness takes the day_

_Ferte In Noctem Animam Meam_

_Illustre Stelle Viam Meam_

_Aspectu Illo Glorior_

_Dum Capit Nox Diem_

_Cantante Vitae Canticu_

_Sine Dolore Acte_

_Dicite Eis_

_Sing a Song_

_A Song of Life_

_Made without Regrets_

_Tell the ones_

_The ones I love_

_I never will forget_

_Never will Forget…_

We finished in our final pose, holding each other by the waist and leaning back as far as we could with our necks exposed. My eyes were closed and though the song had ended, there was silence.

We came back up and turned to the audience. Stunned faces, teary faces, awe filled faces. The judges were holding tissues to their eyes. Daren looked at me startled. This was not what we had expected. So I took his hand, walked up a few steps and dipped into a deep curtsey while he bowed accordingly.

That was the que apparently to cheer. It wasn't loud since no one wanted to be loud after that but it was intense and lasted forever. It didn't stop even when we exited the stage.

I looked up at Daren. "We won." I said matter of factly. He smiled and let the tension he had been holding leave his body. "I do believe you are right, Quicksilver." I hugged him tightly, willing myself not to cry and mess up my makeup.

I felt my team coming and turned to greet them. Elise squealed and threw herself at us. Daren gallantly caught her and swung her around. Elin came to congratulate me and inspect my makeup and hair. Peyton was carrying a bouquet of a dozen roses. "Oh, Peyton you shouldn't have." I said accepting them graciously.

"Oh, they aren't from me." He said with a self-satisfied smile. I looked at Elin who grinned and shook his head. Elise was staring at me intensely waiting for my reaction.

I blushed a red crimson from my crown to my toes. "HAH! I knew it! Pay up boys!" Elise yelled, marching over to Elin and Peyton with Daren in tow. I looked at the card which simply said in his graceful handwriting, 'I will love you till the last rose dies'.

What an odd thing to say.

Daren read the message and looked at the bouquet knowingly but refused to tell me what it meant.

"I was also told to tell you that a dance has been requested of you." Elise murmured in my ear when she came to hug me. "What are you now, a go between?" The blonde girl waggled her eyebrows and swept away but not before turning.

"Dahlia? That was the most beautiful dance I've ever seen in my life." I smiled and waved as she vanished with her arm linked happily with Daren's who, when I touched his soul, felt warm and content. It was wonderful to see his inner strength blended with her physical strength, becoming a whole new entity.

"Dahlia. You've got a dance to get to." Peyton said, pulling Elin in close. Suddenly I was eager to be gone. "I'll see you all bright and early to report for our assignment." They nodded and shooed me. "We know. Daren will make sure Elise is ready. Now go!"

I cast one last loving look on them before I disappeared into the throng to grab my clothes and my makeup bag. I had a dance to get to and I didn't want to be late.

* * *

The hardest part was taking the makeup _off_.

I felt like I could still feel traces of it on my face, even after I had scrubbed and wiped and scraped it off my face. In the corner of my room now stood a vase of roses that stood near my unused bed.

Once I had the makeup off as best I could, which there were still shadows beneath my cheekbones and my lips were a touch darker than they should be and I still had a slight black sheen to my eyelids, I threw on a long black nightgown, a grey over robe and ran to the tower with condensed Orchid in my hand.

I had a few more hours till Daren's Semblance would wear off but I'd want her to get around in the morning.

The days were growing colder and the night longer. It was a relief to reach the elevator entrance and go inside. It would be highly embarrassing to show up with the intention of dancing when I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering.

The office was quiet except for the _clunks_ and _thunks_ of the clock's machinery.

Pulling the lever, I climbed the stairs to Oz's- my room. He was there, sipping his nightly tea and smiling.

He had taken off his overcoat and left his vest and button up on but rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. His spectacles were on the nightstand and the room was only lit by star and moonlight that gleamed off his silvery gray hair.

He stepped forward to embrace me and I sank into his arms like it was as natural as breathing. _Home._

Kissing the top of my head he gently eased back and cleared his throat. "I'm not sure I could do all the dances you did tonight but, I can do this." He walked to a music player and his Scroll on his bookshelf and pressed the play button for both of them, the song title simply being: Our Song. Beautiful music filled the room and he walked to the middle of the space and held out his hand.

I was in a nightgown and a robe with traces of makeup stuck to my face and my hair curling in the oddest way from my bun.

When I walked over to him and curtseyed low and he bowed. I placed my hand in his and let him pull me close, clasping my right hand in his left and settling his right hand on my hip. My left hand gently cupped his muscular shoulder. Then we were waltzing. He really was quite the dancer, all poise and warmth. I could picture us doing this years from now in our own home with our children fast asleep, waltzing in our bedroom.

It was a small room but I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, not even the grandest ballroom. We dipped and flowed around the music, not saying anything. There were no words needed.

We were dancing among the stars.

* * *

Song list:

Elin's song for the contest: "Adele Medley"- Alex Goot, Justin Robinett &amp; Michael Henry

Dahlia's song for the contest: Scarborough Fair – Celtic Woman

Weiss' song for the contest: Mirror Mirror-Casey Lee Williams (because I'm super lame)

Daren's first dance song: Beat Drop- Simon Curtis

Dahlia's first dance song: Flesh- Simon Curtis

Daren and Dahlia's first duo dance: Latino's Go Dumb- Freddy Chingas

Dahlia and Daren's final dance: In Noctem (From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie)

Oz and Dahlia's Waltz: River Flows in You- Slow Waltz


	40. Chapter 40

Oz woke me that morning, an hour before first light, with tea and breakfast. I could sense his nervousness and I understood it completely. That was why he woke up before me.

The last time I had gone out on a mission, I had 'died'. I had slipped away while he had been asleep, leaving him with only a recording and when the dust had settled on the battlefield, my team and I had vanished into the Tunnels beneath Vale.

So I smiled and kissed him, easing his fears and enjoying a comfortable breakfast. "I have some time dear. Come sit with me." I said, motioning to the other chair in the tiny kitchenette. His smile was tight, but he sat down with me. "Not much." He said, pouring more coffee into his cup.

"I wish you wouldn't go." He murmured, sipping his hot coffee. I puckered my lips. "Because it's a mission or because it's a job from Ironwood?" I said with a chuckle. He cracked a smile and admitted that he wasn't fond of my working for the General. "I only took this job to give him the thought that he has control over me and my team. He'll find out the truth very quickly the next time he tries to order me around."

I gave him a devilish grin as he laughed. "Understand, Dahlia that James is my friend and he is a good man. He's just got different ideas about what is necessary than I do. And a fondness for my lover." He said mildly, quirking his eyebrows at me.

My smile hadn't changed and Oz grew red faced as I stared at him. Then he chuckled and sighed. "Finish your tea, love. You've got to pick up your team to meet with your squad." I finished my tea in a few gulps and began to dress.

He enjoyed attaching me wrap the leather straps around my body.

When I finished I grabbed Orchid, tucked away my last few herbs in my back pouch and shoved my hands into my fingerless gloves.

"You will be careful, won't you?" He asked hesitantly, while my back was turned. I turned with understanding in my eyes.

I limped to him and put a hand on his cheek which he put his hand over. "It's a routine search and destroy mission and I won't be alone. I'll be back this evening even if it-" I stopped myself.

I was about to say _even if it kills me_, which was not something I wanted to say to the man who was worried sick about me leaving the safety of the campus. I covered myself by kissing him lightly. "This evening. It's a promise." He was not totally convinced but he let go of the hand he'd captured on his cheek. "This evening. Don't be late." I grinned at him and turned away, pulling the lever to release the stairs.

He was full of anxiety and my mind raced for something I could say that would take his mind off of me leaving.

So before my head disappeared below the floor, I looked up and called his name. His eyes went to me and my heart swelled in my chest. "Do you ever wonder what our children will look like?" I dashed down the stairs, chuckling at his surprised yelp.

When I felt him, his anxiety was lessened and now he was thoughtful. I was thinking too.

_Brown eyes… a brown eyed black haired boy with short little sharp canines…_

* * *

"Good morning Commander Derivalle." The squad leader said stiffly when I entered the airship followed by Elin, Elise and Peyton. I looked at the man, Ryke and wondered at his hostility.

"Please. Call me Dahlia. I'm not an officer." I said waving him down. He shook his helmeted head. "No can do, Commander. General Ironwood named you my commanding officer so I must address you as such." I sighed. Ironwood had to make things so dang complicated.

The ship took off and I went to the map. It would take us no more than three hours to reach Vasilius at speed and then team DEEP would clear out the problem and have a little visit with Mama Thayet.

"We received a distress call in the middle of the night, nothing major but an Ursa knocked out the power lines so only the one emergency radio is working. Everyone is holed up in their houses, waiting for us to take care of the issues before the techs go in a fix the lines."

My eyes wandered the map aimlessly pausing at Mountain Glenn and suppressing a shudder.

_It's in the past. Put it behind you. Focus on the here and now, here and now._ Peyton came up and put an arm around my shoulder and relaxed into his side. Here and now with my friends. He would make a great father one day.

_Now why am I thinking about that?_

"Have any of the citizens contacted you through the radio?" Peyton asked. Ryke's lips thinned and he took a breath in as if he was about to reprimand Peyton. Which was a bad idea since Peyton outweighed him by a couple stone of muscle and towered two heads over him. Noting that I was staring at him Ryke growled his replied.

"There were two on the radio when the distress call went out. They were calm and informed us that everyone was barricaded in their houses and that there wasn't a need to rush but they need us to get that nest cleared out and the power back online."

It explained why we hadn't been able to contact Mama Thayet to check on the status of the town.

I tensed up for no reason but forced myself to relax. There had been people on the radio. The villagers were safe. Just a routine Grimm nest clear out. Nothing to worry about.

"Can I help you with anything else?" He grumbled, crossing his arms defensively across his chest. It was my turn for my lips to thin into a disapproving line. "Yes, you can. You can fix up your attitude." The man stiffened.

"If I have said anything to offend-" Peyton snorted. "You don't have to say it around her. She's an Empath. She knows you've got a problem with us by the way you feel. I'm not an Empath so I can tell by your tone that you have issues, so let's get them out in the open shall we?" I was mildly surprised that Peyton had verbally laid the man out. Elin must be rubbing off on him.

Anger flared. Resentment swelled. Ryke motioned for the other men to leave and he uncrossed his arms. "You want to hear my problem?"

My face remained blank and I kept a firm link to Ryke's emotions to see the truth. "I get it okay? I get that he is trying to blood his new Special Operatives early. This is a small mission but I am a seasoned commander and my men have been doing this work since before you were born. So why am I being put beneath the command of a little girl who's never seen combat? Why am I putting my _men's_ lives in the hands of someone who's never commanded a squadron before? The General treats his Special Operatives like they are better than everyone else and worth more than our lives in battle but when he is in command of them he doesn't think twice about throwing their lives away." He began to pace.

I sighed. This wasn't about us. This was about General Ironwood.

I nudged Peyton who took the hint and moved to the door. I knew that Elin and Elise were hovering near it, listening to the conversation. They had picked up on eavesdropping without me teaching them a thing but I would give them some pointers when we got back.

I had a slight advantage since I had the Faunus hearing abilities.

"Ryke, I'd like to set a few things straight. Maybe that will ease your worries." He wouldn't ever really like me since I was a young woman but I could at least ensure that he respected me.

"I'm not one of Ironwood's Special Operatives. None of my team are." Ryke looked at me confused. He still wore his helmet so I couldn't see his eyes but his emotions told me everything. "Ironwood only asked us to lead this mission because he's trying to butter us up into a position in his Special Ops group and because the Thayet twins are from Vasilius and they know the land better than anyone… I also got the impression that there were no other graduated Huntsmen nor Huntresses who could respond to a minor distress call."

Ryke rubbed his mouth roughly. "As to the issue of naivety, I can assure you Squad Leader Ryke that my team has been blooded many times over. By chance, did you get the report about the recent Grimm attack inside Vale?" Ryke straightened up. "Of course I did. I was the head of one of the companies that responded."

I nodded. "Did you hear about the first year students who went back into the tunnels?" I murmured quietly, playing with my necklace. His emotions grew muddled. "We had heard something but I thought those kids were dead?"

He looked at me long and hard.

"You've got to be joking." He gasped. I chose to smile instead of growl. "My team and I earned our title as Beacon's Elite in the maze of Tunnels beneath Vale. We earned our scars and I hope that with that I can at least earn your respect. I promise, Officer Ryke, that I will not endanger any of your men without good cause."

There it was. That kernel of feelings. Respect and maybe even a touch of trust.

"So, Officer Ryke." I put my hand out. "Do we have an accord?" I was half smiling, which I knew made a bright white scar pop out like a dimple. He stared at me for a few moments before putting his hand out and gripping mine. "I think we do, Commander."

He didn't let go of my hand. "Also, no matter what Ironwood promises you, don't join the SO's. My sister got sucked in when she went through her training. She was killed last year for something not worth dying for. Ironwood told me I should honor her sacrifice by committing myself to the Militia but I haven't forgotten who sent her to 'sacrifice' herself. Lives are cheap to a man who commands an army." Ryke explained with a fierce smile.

_Isn't that the hard truth…_

"I'm sorry that you lost her… what was her name?" I asked gently. "Frieda. Frieda Ryke." He said letting go of my hand. "That's a lovely name. I'm sure she's thankful to have such a strong brother." I stretched out one tiny thread to him. He had accepted her death by honoring it but hate and resentment were such negative emotions.

Like lancing a boil, I drained those emotions away and healed it up.

I tapped my staff against the floor twice and my team came to me.

I looked at Ryke and smiled. "Do you think we could find a screen? My baby sister is fighting in the tournament this morning."

* * *

Elin nudged me. "The little ones did well in their match!" Elise went to punch him but I looked at her and she lowered her fist grinning. "Don't break him till _after _we visit your mother. Otherwise, she'll wonder if I'm taking proper care of you!"

Peyton chuckled, eager to meet Mama Thayet face to face. He'd met her through video chat when Elin called her and she had expressed approval of their relationship. Her only comment was: 'He's huge!' to which Elin winked at her and said 'I know'.

I was excited to see the warm mother again as well. It was fall but I knew she would have held back some of the herbs from her garden for me.

"She's already going to think we're crazy. Did you know that Glynda tattled on us to Mom about the uh- incident?" I groaned. No, I hadn't known but at least Mama Thayet wouldn't find out by seeing the scars. But that also meant that Glynda had 'contacted the deceased family' so I was about to get an earful.

Again.

"But seriously though. Blake put in a good fight." Peyton said. They all knew about Blake's relation to me. After Elise figured it out, it was too much work to keep it a secret from the boys. It was funny though, when I finally forced it out of my mouth that we were sisters, the boys had already figured it out. It just took them longer than Elise.

"I've very proud of her. It was clever to lure that girl on the hoverboard away and strike her from behind." I said with a slight purr of happiness on the end of my words. "Very Dahlia like, I'd say." Elin said with a wink at me.

Elise sighed and sat back. "I hope Mom has food ready for us." I gave her a look. "Elise, darling, she's a baker. Of course she'll have food." Mama Thayet's blackberry biscuits were to die for.

My mouth watered.

"Commander?" One of the techs called to me. "Yes, Terry?" The young tech smiled at me. "We're approaching Vasilius. ETA ten minutes." I nodded and stood up to stretch. "Thank you, Terry." My team readied itself and I forced myself to relax. "You guys got a general idea of where the nest could be?"

Elin nodded. "There was an old one to the West of the village, cleared out maybe two years ago?" He looked at his sister. "Anyways, I'm guessing that some Grimm may have moved back into residence there." I nodded. It made sense.

Grimm were attracted to places of negativity and an old Grimm nest was bound to hold plenty of it.

"I wish we could watch JNPR's fight but we got work to do." Peyton said, rolling his massive muscled shoulders. "We'll record it and watch it later." I replied, smiling.

This was what Huntsmen and Huntresses did. Cleared out Grimm and kept people safe. It felt like we were already pros at the game and I didn't feel fear, only a slight sense of wary anticipation. I had faced Grimm before and won. I would win this time too.

"Team DEEP drop in five!" The pilot announced. We made our way to the jump doors. "Circling Vasilius."

I got ready to jump. Relaxing my muscles and running my hand along Orchid in a soothing motion. "Preparing to open doors."

I could hear the wind rushing outside as the doors began to slide open. The wind was harsh as the propellers whipped it around us. "Jump in 5… 4…3- what is that?" The pilot asked in a confused voice. I couldn't see anything with the wind in my eyes so I waited.

"Jump!"

We leapt from the transporter, fell through the air and landed hard in the road to the main entrance of the village. I looked around confused at what the pilot might have seen. _Grimm probably._

"Weapons to hand everyone. We'll start out at the old nest in the West." I called, moving toward the front entrance to the village. It was very quiet. _Of course, everyone is hiding in their houses; waiting for us to clear away the Grimm._

"Peyton, I want you to…" I trailed off as I entered the village.

All the air left my body. All the blood drained from my face. For a moment, I felt completely numb.

"Peyton, get the twins out of here." I whispered. He didn't hear me. "Peyton." I barked, my voice cracking upward, nearing hysteria.

It startled him enough that he looked at me. His green eyes were filled with horror. "Get them out of here." He didn't move. I couldn't even feel the twins behind me. They had gone deep into themselves, hiding from the pain.

"_NOW!_"

All three jumped at the hoarse command and Peyton put himself between the village and the twins as he ushered them away. Once they were gone I took a shuddery breath in and faced what lay in Vasilius.

* * *

**On the transporter, Ryke was directing his squad to their positions.**

**He still felt that she was too young but he had to admit there was something commanding about the Derivalle girl. Her team weren't people to push around either.**

**He'd read the reports and knew that they should be dead but they weren't and that had to count for something.**

"**Hey, sir. Commander's on the line for you." The copilot called on the overhead. **_**Already?**_ **Ryke got a bad feeling in his stomach. Team DEEP had just landed so they couldn't have cleared out that fast. Which meant something was wrong.**

**Steve held the phone out and Ryke grabbed it a put it to his ear. "Commander?" He said into the speaker. He heard a faint voice on the other end. "Ryke?"**

"**Yes? Commander? Derivalle?" he said, his voice growing louder with concern. She didn't seem like someone to get faint. She tried to say something but it was too quiet for him. "What was that?" He listened to her take a couple deep breathes and clear her throat.**

"**I'm calling in for back-up." She said a little steadier, but the last syllable still quaked.**

**He was shocked. "Why do you need back-up? What's going on? How does the team who went into those tunnels need back up this quickly?" He said angrily. Had she been lying? He listened to her labored breathing. On the camera he watched her standing perfectly still just inside the main village gate. They couldn't see beyond where she was standing.**

"**No, Officer. There are no Grimm here…"**

**The camera shifted to the left to see what she was staring at.**

"**Just a lot of bodies to bury."**


	41. Chapter 41

There are no words that I know that can describe what we found in Vasilius.

No words that could fully encompass the horror felt when one walked through its streets.

When I had first seen it, shock had frozen me. It was hard, seeing a place that I had loved turned into a slaughterhouse. Images overlaid in my mind. Fragments of memory from other places, other villages that had looked the same when Omar's men had left.

_The blood will never be cleaned from this village. Vasilius will become another black dot on Ironwood's map._

When Ryke found me I suppose he was expecting me to be near comatose. Even he could barely absorb what was strewn carelessly across the streets, smeared on building walls, squelching underfoot as they walked.

When he found me I looked at him with cold, dead eyes. "Grimm. Lots of them coming from the South East by the looks of it. The corpses are more abundant near that area." It was hard to tell. There were bodies everywhere, in piles and in pieces.

But to an old killer's eye, there was a significant abundance in the Southern part of the village. The citizens had no time to counterattack the horde and had died terribly as a result.

And by the smell, the carrion had been sitting for a day at the most. I would know more once I started performing Post Mortem on the cadavers that were still whole. The ones that weren't… better not to think about them.

"Ryke." I called and he snapped to attention. "Divide your men up. Four groups, all armed up. Bring the bodies to the cemetery in the eastern part of the village. We need to do a body count and I need to ascertain when this attack was." He saluted. "And Ryke?"

The officer turned to look at his commander, feeling fear trickle up his spine. Where she had been warm and kind on the ship, now she was an unsheathed blade. "Make sure your men know that the Grimm may come back. Be prepared to fight."

He nodded. "Yes, Commander Derivalle."

He turned away from the terrifying creature before him and addressed his men. "You heard her boys, four groups, split up and gather the stiffs to the graveyard for burial and body count. May the Gods have mercy."

Some of the men muttered the word _mercy_ beneath their breath. Dahlia turned to head to the graveyard.

_I do not think we will find any mercy here._

* * *

I looked up into the sky and blessed the Gods for a cloudy day. There at least was some kindness in them. _Maybe they are trying to hide this atrocity from their view… this Gods forsaken place…_

When I looked back in front of me all I saw was death.

As swiftly as could be, Charlie Squad had divided and gone to work, bringing the whole bodies to be in the graveyard first before going back to their quarter and trying to put missing parts back together.

_Don't think of the girl…_

Elise had come back. I told her to leave but she had just said, "I have to witness for them. This is my home. I will not abandon them." Her eyes were hollow and I could feel how she had hidden any kind of emotion deep inside her so that she could look upon the destruction of her home village and not weep.

She would have to mourn later.

I needed her to identify the bodies so that we could begin to bury them. It killed me that I had to do that to her but she had told me better her than Elin. Peyton had strict orders to keep Elin away from the village by Elise.

"I love my brother. I won't let him see what's become of our home." Elise had told me when I asked. I had left it at that. Pushing would only make her hurt more. She was numb enough at the moment that she could last. Elin, for all his sarcasm, was still so sensitive. Seeing his home like this would destroy him.

"God, why do we` have to lug the stiffs all the way here. Why can't we just leave them? They'll be gone before too long anyways." A very young gunner said to his partner as they brought the barber to me looking like a macabre jigsaw puzzle.

He had been a sour man but he hadn't deserved a fate like this. Terror was still etched across the face that was left on him. I looked at the young gunner. "Perhaps you should think that one day someone like us would be kind enough to bury you with dignity." I said to him. He started because he didn't know that I had heard.

"What do I care? I'm dead anyways." He said, sounding incredulous. His partner shivered as my eyes grew glazed and sleepy. "I'll remember that. When you die, I'll make sure that your body only is left for the scavengers to feast on." I said in a sing song voice, turning and looking as a raven plucked out the eye of the seamstress and ate it before the man who was set to keep the crows away came and chased it off.

I smiled slightly and the young gunner shivered so hard he dropped the barber's hand. "Right here, please." I said motioning to the ground next to the body I had just finished reassembling.

_Don't think about the girl…_

He gently placed the pieces before me before fleeing my presence. Before I would have eased his fear and reminded him that I had had a long day putting dead bodies back together but now, I just didn't care. Let him fear me.

Ryke came up to me. "Body count is at about seventy nine, Commander." I nodded. "Thank you, Ryke." He stayed near me. "Ma'am… why don't you take a break? I can take over this job for you if you'd like." He said with unexpected kindness.

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Ryke but I'm fine… the faster this gets done, the faster we can go back to Beacon…" A thought sucked the air right of me. "I don't have to call the families, do I?" I whispered. I wouldn't be able to handle that.

Ryke put his hand on my left shoulder. "No, Commander. General Ironwood has a team of grief counselors that do that for us. There have only been a few times, very special times, when I've broken the news myself." I nodded and relaxed.

"Would you believe me if I said this isn't the first time I've seen something like this?" I said, looking down the rows of bodies laid out, prepped for burial.

The hand stayed on my shoulder. A sharing of strength. Even Ryke was wobbly from all of this. "Yes, Commander. I would… I do believe it… but I don't think your teammates have." I shook my head. "I was a different person then but the scene doesn't change. Now it's just more… personal. I knew some of these people, Ryke. Elise and Elin grew up with them, knew their faces and voices, the feeling of their aura. It makes it… different."

He didn't ask questions. He absorbed the answers and accepted them. At that moment, I needed nothing else. "I'm going to go check of the westward group. Make sure to wash your hands and grab something to eat and drink." I smiled tiredly but it felt wrong on my face. It felt wrong to smile in the wake of this many corpses.

Those that still had faces wore masks of terror and fear the likes of which no artist could truly render.

_Don't think of the girl…_

I began to put the barber back together when I felt a buzz to the west of me.

I looked up just in time to hear Ryke yell, "We've got a live one!" I left Orchid behind in my haste to get to where the west group was gather about. "Get out of my way, get out of my way!" I yelled shoving them away.

"Mama Thayet…" I breathed, not daring to believe my eyes.

She looked terrible, like she should be dead but I could see the faint rise and fall of her chest, could hear the air rattling around wetly in her lungs and could feel the faltering beat of her heart. "Stand back, give me some air." I growled, activating my Semblance. I stretched as many threads as I could fit into her body, stabilizing her heart beat, healing her ghastly wounds, cauterizing the stumps of her legs, forcing her lungs to breath, healing the internal damage, keeping her blood flowing in her veins and arteries, making her brain synapses fire.

It took about thirty minutes but finally, she was stable. "Ryke." I called, my voice sounding like I had swallowed a cheese grater. "Get her on the ship." I said, trying to stand but failing. My right leg was not happy with me.

Without saying a word, Ryke slipped my right arm over his shoulders and hauled me to my feet. Right then, as the men loaded Mama Thayet on board, Elise came running up to me. "Is it true?" She demanded with a gravelly voice. Already feeling the drain I nodded.

Elise lost all ability to breathe for a few moments till I tapped her. She started up again. "We have to get back to Beacon." I shook my head and Elise grabbed my left arm in a killer grip. I winced, knowing I would have a hand sized bruise on my upper arm.

"That is my mother! We have to go." Her eyes were wild. I stretched out my Semblance to her and calmed her down. "Elise. There is nothing I can do at Beacon that I can't do here and here we still have people to bury. I will not leave this place until I know that everyone is accounted for and buried with respect."

She began to take a deep breath in when, as if the God's wanted to mock us, there was a roar from just outside the village. I couldn't have stopped her if I tried.

She took off running, a black and silver blur, toward the sound. _Aiya…_

Terry brought me Orchid and I blessed his sweet soul. I hobbled as fast as I could after Elise, keeping tabs on all the threads I had tied to Mama Thayet. I could get a relatively far distance from her before I begin to lost threads but I was being extra careful.

She should have been dead with those wounds so sheer willpower was what kept her alive. And now my willpower was keeping her alive.

When I got to where the young Ursa had been, all I saw was Elise standing in the middle of pure carnage, dripping blood and sobbing. Serenity was stabbed into the ground and Elise held onto her handle with all her might and she wept.

Some of the soldiers had their guns pointed at her. "Stand down." I bellowed at them. "She took swings at us when we tried to get close. I don't think she's sane anymore!" The same young gunner who didn't want to haul bodies around cried out.

_She's seen everything she's ever known turn to ruin. Everyone she knew is dead, her home village is a battleground and her mother's barely alive. If she was sane before, she wasn't now. The wall she put up to help us take care of the dead is broken and now there is just pain, pain, pain._

"I said, stand down!" I yelled once more and this time, they listened. The guns went down and I stretched a thread to Elise, feeling the cyclone of emotions inside of her. She tried to suck me in but I was stronger than her.

I gave her an anchor point and as I approached her, we hauled her out of her spiraling misery and grief. I kneeled down and gathered her into my arms and let her sob into my chest. I stroked her blood clotted hair, and embraced her pain into me, letting it become a part of me.

I let her cry till she felt hollowed and then Ryke pulled a handkerchief from somewhere as slowly, as not to startle her, handed it to Elise. She was alive enough at least to feel gratitude.

"I'll have Elin keep watch over your mother while you wash up." I whispered to her. She leaned back and nodded. "At least she's alive."

I ached everywhere but I still had bodies to bury."Let's finish up here. We need to get back soon." Elise helped me up and gazed at the purple and black bruise on my upper arm. "Sorry… about that.. and all the… blood." She said in a quiet voice.

I shrugged. The fresh blood from the Grimm was mixed with the old blood from the dead bodies I had been sifting through a majority of the day. I wasn't too concerned about it. "Don't worry about it. Let's just finish up."

Elise helped me back to the cemetery where I told her to go wash up on the ship. She didn't need to be sitting around covered in Grimm blood and scaring the soldiers.

"But I have to finish… identifying." She weakly protested. "Actually no, you don't. Those last three from the north were the last bodies we found. Go." Ryke said coming up next to us but staying at a respectful distance.

Elise was relieved though she wouldn't admit it.

"You should go too, Commander." I leaned on Orchid and refused. I had to finish this. I would clean up on the way back. "Take half the men and do a final sweep. We need to make sure that there are no other remains left behind. I won't leave one unattended to… what's the final count?"

I had a brief dizzy spell but it was over in a moment. I really needed to eat something but the thought of food seemed repulsive.

Sighing heavily Ryke replied. "Eighty seven, not including Mrs. Thayet." Eighty seven… Eighty seven dead. "How many of those were whole?" Some of them had been suicides. A bullet to the head was often preferable to being eaten by Grimm. Others had been found outside of the village also dead but in the strangest ways. Ryke gulped. "Twenty two."

I shoved away the pain and forced it behind those thick walls that I had built long ago. I nodded. "Let's get started.

We had already started burying the dead, giving them proper burials. We didn't have time to build coffins but Elise had assured me that her people didn't use coffins. The bodies in the graves fertilized the flowers that grew in the springtime on the graves.

Many young people made a few lein every year by volunteering to trim the flowers to their specific grave and water them if it didn't rain. I tried to imagine what that would look like but I couldn't. Who would take care of the graves now? Who would make sure the flowers were watered?

So as we buried, we took seeds from the garden shop and planted seeds along with bodies. I was adamant about it and Ryke backed me.

With everyone working, soon everyone was buried and had proper wooden grave markers with their name carved carefully by one of my little throwing daggers into the wood.

The cemetery was much bigger when we left than when we arrived. With eighty seven new residence, the grave yard had been crowded and parts of the field beyond the established plot of land had been used.

Graves everywhere.

And I didn't cry. I didn't yet mourn. I only let a few tears go when I placed a little dressed up ragdoll on a small grave that had chrysanthemums planted in it, awaiting spring to grow and bloom. And that sad little doll with its hair made of yarn and its button eyes and sewn on smile had splashes of red on it that hadn't been there before. There were even some beneath the button eyes that looked like red tears to match my clear ones that watered the seeds.

Then I turned my back on Vasilius.

_Don't think of the girl…_

I washed up and felt nothing. I ate bites of a sandwich and didn't taste it. I looked at the map and saw the new black dot.

Vasilius was no more.

* * *

When we landed in Beacon, everything seemed different. Mama Thayet was immediately rushed to the medical center to be put in a piece of machinery that would stabilize much like I had but it would only work as long as she was asleep.

It was a bit of a relief to pull those strands back into my body, and halt the drain on my soul. But it was also nerve racking, not having direct control of the woman's well-being. In my team, the walls were all back up. Nothing on our faces but cool professionalism. I would help them get through this later, after I discussed a few things with the leaders.

I would be calm. I would be cool. I would not yell or cry or scream. I. Would. Stay. Calm.

Elise came up next to me and slid her hand in mine, seeking reassurance and love. I was only too happy to give it. She was everything to me at that moment. And once I handed her over to the careful attentions of Daren I would find Blake and make her let me cuddle her till all the pain went away.

"Come on darlings. We're going to make a quick stop at our room before we go take care of business, alright?" I said, reaching out strands to each of them. Elin was able to look at me and give me a lopsided smile. Some of the tension left Peyton when he saw it.

Peyton had a hard time before making Elin stay still. I had put him in charge of contacting the surrounding villages to make sure they were okay. No other village had been touched. Only Vasilius.

There were many things about this situation that just didn't add up. All of which I planned on pouring over extensively with Peyton once the twins went for sparring practice.

"Commander?" Ryke said as we stepped onto the docks. Charlie team stood behind him with their helmets tucked under their left arms. I managed a weak smile.

"Ryke, the mission is over. I'm no longer your commanding officer." Even Ryke had taken off his helmet, revealing silver threaded dark brown hair and fierce pale green eyes. He smiled. "I think you'll find that we all still think of you as our commander, Commander Derivalle."

Warmth from my team, which was a relief.

"You earned our respect, Commander. You and all of your team. I hope that you know that you can call on us in the future." He said, holding his hand out. I limped over to him and gripped his hand tight. "Will do. And thank you. I couldn't have done it without you." I said honestly.

Ryke smiled, backed up a step and saluted. All of Charlie Squad did the same, saluting us for a long moment before heading back onto the ship.

When they were gone, Elise came to hold my hand again. I had a feeling that would be happening often in the future.

I didn't mind it. I needed it too.

I looked up at Oz's tower, somehow knowing that he was looking for me. He'd probably been looking out the window all day waiting for me to finally come home.

The sun was still above the horizon so I still had some time before I had to seek out Ironwood and give him my dire report. I could feel Oz's joy at seeing me.

I had been right. He had been waiting for me. And with my silver hair, it's not like I'm hard to spot.

"Come on, Elise. You need real food in you and a good night's sleep. I'll give you something for your nightmares." I said the last part quietly. She looked into my knowing eyes. Stuff like what we'd had seen in Vasilius left scars on the soul and scars meant nightmares.

She ducked under my arm and wrapped her arm tightly around my waist. The Dahlia-and-Elise pose. It helped make both of us feel better as we began to trek towards Beacon. I looked up again, feeling a familiar someone next to Oz.

_Daren._

Daren and Oz were waiting together for us.

We were walking and I was vaguely aware of the heavy buzz of emotions near but it wasn't till I heard the crash of swords that I actually focused.

It was a show of how out of it I was since my first thought wasn't: Oh no, people are fighting in the courtyard! It was: Now why did Oz sanction a fight in front of the school?

I sighed and focused on the battle. Two opponents surrounded by rings of students from all four academies. Both wield swords. One a saber, one like an odd looking broadsword.

Both were familiar for entirely different reasons. The incredibly beautiful woman wielding the saber was a clear relation to Weiss, as I had memorized her family long before I came to Beacon, I knew the woman to be Winter Schnee, Weiss' older sister.

The man… now there was a face I hadn't expected to see anytime soon. Seeing his rough, handsome face made it all come back.

_There is a man out there that I need dead for a business deal I'm making way for, Dahlia. I'm sending you to eliminate him. Omar hands me a profile with the targets picture paper clipped to the front for me to look at. What is the targets name, Father? Qrow Branwen._

_Please help me. I don't want this life anymore… help me… I'm begging you…_

"Qrow?!" I gasped. My knees got weak and if it weren't for Elise, I would have hit the cobblestones in a heap. "Jeez, Dahlia do you know everyone?" Elise said holding me up till I found my feet again. "In some ways or another, yeah, you could say so. What is he doing here?" I asked, mostly to myself.

And what the name of all the Gods were he and Winter Schnee doing in the front courtyard fighting?

It was a beautiful match and a fierce one. I watched it get more and more intense with every jab and parry. Then it got out of control.

Winter's saber hiss through the air and sliced its way up a girl from Haven's forearm. The combatants didn't notice a thing. There was only the fight.

I could've groaned. I looked up and the orange sky. _Do we not get a break?_

Apparently not, since two seconds later, Qrow's elbow ended up in a Shade student's eye, knocking him back into a pillar. "Alright, team DEEP, we're gonna play corral. Elise, use Serenity as a shield and try to keep them from stabbing any of the students. Elin, Peyton grabbed the injured and bring them into a safer part of the courtyard and guard them there.

More people were failing to get out of the way of the fight, and more ended up injured but more students joined in the throng and no one moved to leave. Sometimes you have to love teenagers.

We went to work and I held my teammates and my own battle sense in check. We couldn't afford to lose our cool here and go berserk. Who knows how much damage we would do before we could stop ourselves.

As the boys got the injured, I healed them of their injuries while Peyton got their information on my orders. You could bet money I was going to slap this one down to both Oz and Ironwood.

As the fight continued more got injured. A careless limb, a bit of a slip up with the blades.

I saw Weiss and Ruby pointing at the fighters and tried not to get upset when Ruby yelled, "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!" To which Weiss replied, "Teach him respect, Winter!" _Gods, they couldn't be helpful right now, could they?_

The worst was when Winter punched Qrow in the face with the hilt of her saber and Qrow naturally retaliated by smashing his scythe-sword onto the ground, destroying the pavement and casting shards of stone into a heavily crowded area.

I was going to have them both whipped if I could. Careless, careless, careless!

They moved away after that as Winter used her Glyphs to shoot herself back and away from the attack. _Ah I forgot, the Schnee's Semblance is hereditary._ "It's alright, sweetheart, I'm a healer. I'll fix this right up." I murmured to a girl whose eyes could stay focused after her head had gotten bashed by another student when they had been backhanded by Winter.

None of it was on purpose or of malicious intent. That was the only reason I didn't kill them.

"Oh no, dearling, I promise I can fix your eye. Don't worry."

"Just relax dear, the pain will fade soon?"

"Can you tell me your name? No alright then, that's a problem."

Elise was doing the best she could but they were fast and moving constantly. _If you get the chance just knock one of them out, for pity's sake._

She had to physically stop a light pole from crashing to the ground when Qrow literally sliced it in two. Had it fallen it might have killed several students who were in its path. And it was hard, keeping her in check. She wanted to badly to ravage and rage but she couldn't. Not here.

I'll admit though. It was rather impressive when Qrow made a swipe and Winter landed _on the sword_ behind him and delivered a kick to his face as she leapt backwards. I wouldn't mention that though when I gave her a scalding reprimand later.

"It's alright, darling, deep breathe in then out, good job. Let your eyes follow my finger."

Maybe I was a bit wobbly? My Semblance didn't like being overtaxed, especially after the Tunnels. Elin tried to get me to stop but then people started crying out as tiny little white Nevermore's flew down the courtyard to attack Qrow. They were hitting other people as well. _Must be Summoning. I've never seen it but I've read about it._

It was quite beautiful when it wasn't causing me migraines.

"Dahlia! I don't know, what-" Elin panted, pulling a girl up to me. She had white patches on her skin and she was shivering. _Is that… frostbite?_

I began to heal it and yes, it was frostbite. _Now I'm definitely going to have to kill them._

"Can you feel this? Alright, good, good. Try to relax."

So many threads, so much going on around me; holding Elise's temper in check, struggling to keep my own under control, Elin and Peyton struggling to help me but were unable to since they didn't know how to heal.

"C'mon dear, lie still."

"It's going to be alright."

"I'll take care of you."

_I'm done holding back._

I had had enough. If no one else was going to stop them, I would but the end result would not be pretty. I ran my hand over the forehead of a boy who had a stab wound in his shoulder from Winter's smaller dagger before I had healed it.

I was going to stand and hurt them. I had just buried eighty seven people, a majority of whom I had match their body parts back up and here these two were, pushing and pushing and pushing, well now I'm on the edge.

I turned to see Winter shoot forward from her glyph, her saber pointed in front of front, aimed right at Qrow. I thought she was going to run him through when…

"SCHNEE."

Winter stopped inches from Qrow's throat. I could feel her embarrassed resignation from where I sat, hovering over my patients. And there was a smugness to Qrow that I knew he had set her up good.

"General Ironwood, sir!" The beautiful woman said, turning with her saber and her dagger pointed straight out in perfect military form. I was surprised to see Penny, my sweet Penny, standing behind Ironwood looking worried. She saw me and waved happily but I couldn't find a good smile back so I settled for a upward tilted grimace.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" The General rumbled, looking at his underling with angry intensity. I don't think he even saw me. "He started the altercation, sir." Qrow interrupted with his hands clasped behind his head like he hadn't done anything. "That's actually not true, she attacked first."

Ironwood was like a robot. His eyes slid to his SO. "Is that so?" Winter looked like she was going to argue but then, realizing that Qrow was right, she looked away embarrassed and pained.

Ironwood looked around, meeting my eyes for a moment but he quickly broke contact. He may not be an Empath but he could see my anger.

_We will have words, General. Many words and none of them kind._

The girl whose head lay in my lap began to breathe wildly. "I can't see! _I can't see!_" She began to twitch and fight. "Shhh, sweetheart. I'm here, I can fix it. Hush now." I placed my hands over her eyes and began to heal the frostbite that had covered the top have of her face.

"It's okay. You're going to be fine." The cold prickled the palms of my hands. Peyton placed a hand on my back. "Easy, Mommy. Deep breathes." I hadn't realized how fast I was breathing. "It's okay. We're alright. Take a step back."

My lungs wouldn't expand enough for a full breath. "I'm almost finished. I'm going to need that list." He nodded and went to finish gathering data for me. I saw him glance at Elin who came and took up a place near me.

"And you." Ironwood said, looking at Qrow. "What are you doing here?" Elin's whips slithered near us, ready to defend me while I was vulnerable. "I could be asking you the same thing." Was the grizzled reply. Elise came and stood with her brother, prepared to guard me as I healed.

They're so protective of me…

It warmed my heart and it hurt. They cared about me so much. They knew me so well.

I finished the girl's eyes and she began to cry with relief. A girl who was either her friend or her sister rushed over and cradled the girl as she cry. I swayed a little in my kneeling position and the dizziness made my eyes wobble.

"Hey, hey, Quicksilver. Are you alright?" Daren said, kneeling in front of me, grabbing my face in his hands. My eyes focused once more but not on him. I saw the prone bodies lying around me; the injured people recovering from their rapid healing and those that I had yet to attend to.

_Prone bodies… dead bodies… don't think of the girl, don't think of the girl…_

"Now, now everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner, that I can assure you has better seats. And popcorn." I heard a familiar voice say behind me but I couldn't turn to see them. "Break it up, everybody. We will deal with this mess."

Someone was calling my name and I could feel other familiar presences around me but my mind was frozen with images from the village.

I could hear the cawing of the crows, frustrated at my unyielding protection of the bodies; I could smell the stench of blood mixed with sweat, fear and pain; I could feel the blood on my hands, both old and new, sticky and clotted.

_I looked down and saw the blood on my hands. I must have been putting a body back together and daydreamed of when I would be able to go home. The barber, the seamstress, the paperboy, the librarian, the farmer and his wife, the tavern keeper and his teenage daughter. They had been like jigsaw puzzles in my hands and their faces begged me to put them back together. Up, I put the tinker's arm with the blacksmith's torso, got to switch them._

_The girl, don't think about the little girl…_

"Is she alright?" Someone asked near me. Then I was back in the courtyard at Beacon and my hands were relatively clean. I had been staring at them with a horror filled expression for ten minutes and the crowd had dispersed.

I looked up and saw Daren with his eyes filled with worry. I tried to swallow but my throat was very dry. "I'm fine." I rattled. "I'm fine."

_Don't think about the little girl…_

Once I had finished healing the last girl, I took a shaky breath in and then let it out. I needed to put his behind me. Just like Mountain Glenn. I needed to bury away so that I could function.

I stood up and leaned on Orchid. "Dahlia, are you alright?" Peyton asked, ever so gently. The sun began to sink below the horizon and threw red light upon the world.

In its wake, my walls began to crack. I had held it together the entire day. I had looked upon the carnage and hadn't flinched. I had buried and entire village and hadn't broken.

"Peyton I need that list." I said in a quiet but firm voice. Anger built inside me, a much easier emotion to deal with. Anger at Ironwood, anger at the world, anger at the Grimm. It built and it built till I was seething.

Anger was better than defeat, rage was better than grief. If I let myself grieve I would stop moving and never start up again. I had to keep moving.

Once Peyton had sent me the list to my school Scroll I began to walk away. "Dahlia? Where are you going?" Elise called.

Orchid came down hard on the cobblestone, sending up little sparks as I walked and I marched away, stiff backed and jaw clenched.

"I have business with the General." I said between my teeth. They needed no other explanation. And then I heard Daren talking through his Scroll. "Yeah… she's coming… and she's three steps beyond mad… "

_Don't think about the girl…_


	42. Chapter 42

In the elevator, as I rose to Oz's office, I breathed in and out, willing myself to hold onto my control. Images from the far and recent past were melding together in a whole new nightmare within my mind. Screams echoed in my head.

I could feel the tears rim my waterline but I pressed the back of my left wrist into each eye to prevent the spillage. I would not cry now. Not in front of these people. If I let myself cry then I would drown in my own tears.

_Don't think of the little girl…_

_She was only six years old…_

_Don't think of her…_

_She was still alive when…_

The elevator dinged and I strode right into the conversation, which had apparently turned to me. I caught the tail end of Oz saying to the others in the room that they weren't the ones who were going to have to deal with me when I was angry.

"There you are wrong, Headmaster. You are all going to have to suck it up and deal with me." I snapped as I strode in. Oz flinched inside at my raw voice but he held his face in check and didn't betray a thing. He sat behind his desk and tried to look mildly interested in what I had to say instead of obsessed.

In the room was Glynda standing next to Oz's desk on my left with her arms crossed across her generous chest, looking surprised and worried at me as I came in. Winter was to the right with her hands clasped behind her back looking startled that I would speak so bluntly. Ironwood stood to Winter's right looking severe but inside he was frightened and nervous about me. As he should be since I was about to lay him out flat.

And then there was Qrow. Dashing, charming, drunken Qrow. The old bastard himself.

"I thought I'd seen a familiar face." The Huntsman said at me but I shot him a look. "I'll talk to you later."

I looked at Qrow and assimilated him back into my memory. He was a handsome, rugged man with spiky, disheveled black hair and piercing red eyes. He had a couple of short spikes that hung down near his face as his bangs and I watched him push them back, a sure sign that he thought there was a fight. It was his little signal. The last time I had seen him he had been shaggier and more unkempt and there were less holes in his clothing. Now his hair was slightly trimmed, his facial hair had been clipped so that it clung relatively neat to his strong jaw. He had more furrow lines at his brow but I also saw laugh lines around his mouth that always seemed to have a crooked smile hovering about the edges. His clothes hadn't changed except for I saw more wear and tear now. He still wore his gray low pocketed dress shirt that was left open enough to reveal his muscled chest, that had a dark gray collar, medium gray lapels going down the front and light gray around the rest of the body, two long tails that reached the backs of his thighs and the sleeves were rolled up to show his wiry muscle forearms. That crooked cross pendant still hung from his neck. Then there was the cloak. He wore a tattered red cloak that came to his hips that still had the hole in it from where I had shot him. He also still wore those black dress pants and his low black combat boots. Rings glinted on his right index and fourth finger of his right hand.

Thankfully, he had left his scythe in his room. It would have made me very tense to see it across his lower back.

"What is your business here?" Winter Schnee said, taking a step towards me. _I wonder how you'd feel if you knew that my next assignment after my last one was supposed to be to wipe out your family line._

I turned my head to look at her but I kept my body facing towards the others, showing that I had very little to say to her.

Winter Schnee was beautiful and cold. Now I knew who Weiss tried to imitate whenever she got haughty.

I looked at Winter and saw a future Weiss although Weiss would be comparatively more lovely. Winter had the Schnee white hair, tied in a sock bun at the crown of her head, much like the one I had worn for In Noctem, except for her long bangs which were smooth and swept over her right eye to her chin and leaving a tiny little wave of white that hung down below her left ear and her eyes were the Schnee blue but while Weiss' eyes were pale icy sky blue, Winter's eyes were darker blue; like the center of a glacier. Her outfit was very militaristic mixed with artistic design. It was clear that she emulated much of the General whom she admired above anyone.

She wore a long sleeved white high neck blouse with a tiny section of ruffles coming from the hollow of her throat down to her bust beneath a blue sleeveless vest whose buttons ended at her hips but the sides went down to just above her mid-thigh. Her billowy sleeves were slitted so that her shoulders and the tops of her upper arms were bare and the cuffs were tucked into dark grey fencing gloves. Her pants were white and they were belted up by a leg harness that held up her thigh high boots. Attached to the back of the belt was a flowy drape of sheer fabric that hung to her ankles. Her impressively high boots were silvery grey with flexible knees in dark grey and stacked heels. Her final piece, the one most reminiscent of Ironwood was her coat. It was white with gray trimmings; sleeveless and fit perfectly over her blouse with a high stick collar that clasped at the hollow of her throat with a ruby. From the clasp it opened up, curving around her bust and then buckling tightly around her tiny waist and came down to two points in the middle of her shins. From the front the hem went upward and split in the middle of her back, right where the sheer drape fell beneath. On the back of her waist was a small loop of chain that I couldn't see any purpose for except artistic measures.

I held up my school Scroll. "I have a list for you all." I limped to Oz's desk and placed my Scroll down. Immediately, it pulled the list off.

"This is a list of the people hurt in the battle outside in the courtyard. It tells their names, their injuries, and what school they came from. I thought you might want that, just in case, since some of them were rather severe." I said coldly.

Winter had the decency to blush. "Were they given medical attention?" Ironwood asked. Even hearing his voice made me furious. "I healed all their injuries, all forty nine." I said from between clenched teeth. I looked at Oz and forced myself to relax and back up so that I could see them all. "Some of those injuries included frostbite, broken bones, impalement via debris or blades, concussions-" Ironwood cut me off and I nearly threw a book at him.

"We can compensate you if that's-" Compensation?! I was positive that I was about to explode.

"I don't want any of your stupid money!_"_ I yelled, startling all five of the adults. I could feel myself losing control and I was breathing heavily. Oz tried to support me but for once, it didn't work. It was too much. I had seen too much, too fast and it had been a while since I'd had to witness such horrors back to back.

"I don't want your money. I want you to promise me that this will not happen again." I motioned to Winter and Qrow. "I've had a very bad day and it's only going to get worse. I'm here… to make my report." My voice wobbled a bit on the word report.

_Don't think of the girl…_

Ironwood looked at me confused. So did the other three. "Last light, General. I am to report the situation in Vasilius at last light." I'm not sure if it was the hollowness in my voice or what but Qrow, Glynda, Oz and Ironwood suddenly felt their first trickles of dread.

_I have to hold on. I can't fall apart yet._

"I'm here to report but before I begin I want to know… why…" My throat clogged up. "Why… you said it was a minor distress signal… something simple, not a big deal. We were just going to check on the situation. Clear out Grimm and get the power lines back up. You said… that there was no reason to be concerned…" I leaned on Orchid as if she were my only strength. I looked at General Ironwood, with tears shimmering in my eyes. " So tell me… General…"

_Why was everyone in that village dead before I arrived?!_

The voice that screamed that question didn't belong to a human. It belonged to a wounded animal.

Glynda and Winter gasped, covering their mouths. Ironwood grew pale and stumbled back, hitting Oz's desk. Oz covered his face with his hands and Qrow rubbed his mouth hard before holding his hand there and closing his eyes.

Forget being calm and collected. I was just trying to form the words to the images that raced behind my eyes.

_The little girl, all in pieces, couldn't find them all…_

_Don't think about her…_

"It was a slaughter; every person in that village was killed. Every. Last. One. Every man, woman and c-child." _Don't think about her little fingers…_ "Two of my team had to be escorted out of the town because I couldn't let them look at everyone they had ever known piled in the streets, so bloody many were unrecognizable. The girl, Elise, came anyways though. To witness." _Her broken little fingernails showing how hard she had fought…_ "Many chose suicide before the Grimm could get to them. Those bodies we usually f-found whole. A majority of them were not… whole." How could I speak around this rock in my throat? It was growing with every word I spoke.

How much was too much? Do I tell them about the infant's head we found the ravens fighting over? Do I tell them about the bodies we found in the woods of those who tried to escape that were bitten in half and where we could only find pairs of legs scattered around when the King Taijitu got hungry? How much do I tell them? How much do I lock inside my mind and hide in the hidden boxes within me that held all the scary awful things I had seen and heard?

I glanced around the room before settling back on Ironwood who was a maelstrom of guilt and pain.

"It was a small village, no more than seventy people, you told me." I reduced the rock to a slightly smaller size by swallowing a few times. "There were eighty seven people. I know because I had to bury them." The Garden Graveyard now goes on and on. Who will tend it now?

"There was only one survivor." Ironwood pushed to his feet and came very close to me. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't see the hope in them. "The Thayet's mother, Elisa Thayet. She's now in the hands of your 'specialists' who are trying to wake her up so that they can find out what happened." I cut him off before he could ask if she had told me anything.

All Atlas people care about it how they can use others. They don't care if it'll kill them if they have information they want.

I opened my eyes and glared at him, but I found it hard with the tears still in my eyes. Ironwood still wanted her to wake up. "When they found her she was just barely alive, with her innards torn to shreds and her body half buried beneath the rubble that used to be her barn. I stabilized her on the scene as best I could. Your specialists want to wake her up when I can only just keep _her heart beating!"_

Life is cheap to the man who commands armies, Ryke had said to me. How right he was. Well my life isn't cheap. My team's lives weren't cheap. My friends, my family, the people that I loved; their lives are not cheap and I will not barter with someone for them. Especially not the man who was charged to protect them.

If he wouldn't, I would.

My gaze wandered around the room. How much should I say?

"My team is in shock. I'm doing my best to keep an incredible woman alive and keep the twin's from shanghaiing off the deep end and I come back to find two huntsman fighting in our courtyard, like squabbling children. We are at war, gentlemen, ladies. You just refuse to see it. So if you won't acknowledge it, at least act like it." I said, snapping the last bit. I was trying to rekindle the fire that had kept the tears at bay before.

I couldn't find it. I couldn't find the strength to hide from the memories.

"How can you say we are at war? We've had nearly eighty years of peace, hard earned peace." Glynda said. I looked at her. For nearly the last ten years, I had been murdering people all over Remnant and before me, someone else did the killing. I was not the first person to wear the mask of Faceless. War was the force that drove humanity. The Grimm were just the foot soldiers. "Is that so?" I said rising to leave.

I didn't want them to see me break.

"Dahlia. How do you know that we're at war?" Qrow said seriously. I kept walking towards the elevator, keeping my back to them.

_Because war is what I was bred for. I've been fighting in a war my entire life. Because I've killed more people than you can even imagine for the sake of that war and before me, someone else did the killing. War was once all I knew._

Qrow knew that. But I wouldn't say that with the others in the room.

So I thought about it and with that came the memories.

_Don't think about the little girl…_

_Don't think about how she died…_

_Don't…_

"I… I found a little girl." I whispered harshly, halting my steps. "Barely a child." My lung constricted and my hands tightened on Orchid till my knuckles went stark white.

"Her head was in a well, with half her face gone, her eyeballs plucked out and her brain eaten. Her arms were across the village, partially eaten while her torso was on the other end with the innards eaten out. We couldn't find her legs though we looked for them." We had searched for her legs everywhere. I had been desperate to put her back together.

I gasped and pressed my left fist to my chest, trying to relieve the pressure. "The wounds show that she was still alive when all that happened. She was _alive_ when the Grimm ripped her apart and ate her."

Another child's scream echoed through my ears, blending with the image of the tattered remains. A new nightmare to add to the old one.

"When we buried her I had to have Elise come identify her as Tammy Brown, daughter of the man and the woman whom we had found bits of in the river; a child who's birthing ceremony Elise had attended when she was young; so that I knew what to write on the grave marker." Little Tammy Brown who's little grave was planted with chrysanthemums that would bloom so brightly in the spring.

Elise had whispered to me that she had been a cheerful child who had liked to draw and sing.

The tears came and they trickled down my pale cheeks in a small but constant flow. _Little Tammy Brown with ribbons in her blood drenched blonde hair…_

Grief was like a locust swarm in the room. I couldn't turn around though. I couldn't let them see me like this. Oz yes, maybe even Qrow but Ironwood? Never.

I'd come back later to each individual and heal the heart and soul wounds I had dealt this evening but for now, I wanted to let it sink in. Maybe I wanted to teach them a lesson. Or maybe I just didn't want to suffer with this by myself.

"If you don't understand that ladies and gentlemen, you don't know what war really is." The tears continued to fall and the ache in my chest did not fade, no matter how hard I pressed on it.

"Dahlia… I'm sorry I sent you into that…" Ironwood said in a gravelly voice. And he meant it. I could feel that. I chuckled and it was that saddest sound. "I'm glad I went, General. I'm glad it was me and not anyone else. No one else should have had to take care of that… and no one would have taken such care with the villagers. So no, General. I'm glad I was chosen… I just wish to all the Gods that the twins hadn't had to see what had happened to their home…"

Elise, my poor Elise…

The elevator arrived for me and I gingerly stepped inside, as if I would break if I moved too fast.

When I faced them all of them looked haggard. I hated myself for forcing this pain on them. I hated that I had to be the one to tell them that an entire village had been slaughtered without notice. But they were the leaders of Remnant. This was the consequence of power.

When the doors began to close I took a deep breath in and held it. And held it.

Then when I breathed out, all I heard was a jagged sob coming from within my chest. I hadn't realized that the doors hadn't yet closed all the way.

I knew they heard it. I could feel it. Ironwood hated himself, Oz and Qrow both worried for me, Glynda was struggling not to kill Ironwood and Winter was just cold. She was a soldier but she didn't really know what war looked like till she had heard the fate of Tammy Brown.

I wish I could've seen her when she was alive.

I was about half way down when I realized that I was going back up.

There was no way that I was facing them again, so I kicked the bottom safety hatch out, grabbed onto the cable, and fit the piece back in. The elevator kept going upward but I just hung in the middle of the shaft. Let them wonder where I had gone.

I slid down the cable, knowing I'd need to buy new gloves for me but I was grateful for its protection for my hand.

As I went down I quickly and quietly, I reached a certain level and then my ears popped. Then I kept going down and they popped again.

How far down am I? I asked myself, soon realizing that I had past my stop and groaning because going down elevator cables was fun. Climbing up them? Less fun.

But I was curious about what was below. I hadn't seen any indication that there was anything below the school.

The ground came up under me unexpectedly and my right leg shot me through with pain. Before me was another door, just like the dozens of others before but this one was deep underground.

I didn't have the proper equipment to get inside it but I pressed my hand to it and sent out threads. There was only one presence beyond that doors and it was … off.

My scroll then beeped, reminding me that I had to find the twins soon to put them to sleep. It was going to be a rough recovery. Much worse than the last one.

I cast one final look at the doors, promising out loud to come investigate soon and then I began to climb my way up to ground level. My arms hurt and ached with the strain but it felt good. Somehow, it made the pain in my chest recede for a little.

It came back though when I was outside my team's room and I heard Elise screaming and crying. I closed my eyes and sent up a prayer for us but mostly for my teammates.

And I prayed for Mama Thayet. _Please help me save her…_


	43. Chapter 43

There is not enough alcohol in the world that will make me feel better, I thought fuzzily. I was five bottles in but I could still feel. Every emotion hurt. Like the channels in my heart had been scraped raw by the horrors in my mind.

As if Mountain Glenn hadn't been bad enough. As if all of the pain and suffering in our lives hadn't been enough.

I wasn't sure where I was but I was fairly certain I wasn't supposed to be dead drunk there. I managed to roll to my back and found myself looking at the stars. The stone of the ground was cold against my back and fall chill nipped at my nose.

"Where'd that bottle go…" I asked to no one, reaching for my sixth bottle. I had some trouble getting the top off but using my teeth I managed to uncork it. I dumped the liquor down my throat and it burned all the way down. It was nasty stuff but it was the best thing I had found to get me trashed.

I was in a small stone courtyard, somewhere to the west of my building, close to the infirmary. I had my hands full with Coco and Yatsuhashi so beaten up from their fight with Emerald and Mercury and of course… Mama Thayet…

"No, no, no. I'm drinking to forget, dammit. Forget." I mumbled, taking another swig. Even my alcohol tolerance wasn't tolerating this much. I felt woozy and sick. Yet, nothing else had worked to get all the memories out of my mind.

They still had the Thayet's mother in the rehabilitation tank. She was stable as long as she was asleep. The specialists from Atlas that Ironwood sent to 'help me' just kept asking when I thought she could be woken up. Already, Peyton had to physically restrain me after one particularly annoying specialist had pushed me too far and I had tried to gut him.

Oops.

Couldn't they understand? If she was woken up, I'd have to handle everything. I'd have to make her heart beat, make her lungs move, make her eyes blink and her brain function. Every little thing that comes with being alive, I would have to do for her. If I slipped up once, she'd die. I had confidence that I could do it but Gods, the strain on me! I wouldn't be able to leave her side.

My Scroll vibrated but I ignored it. It wasn't any of my team. I had already forced them to sleep and they wouldn't wake up thanks to a special sleeping brew I had concocted the night we had returned.

My world spun as I laid back down, my sixth bottle still in my shaking hand.

Why did this have to happen now?

Why did Ironwood and Winter have to be so damned helpful? Once one got through her very thick cold exterior, Winter was actually a good person. A kind person. It made me want to hit her a few times. I wish I could've hate her, and Ironwood and Qrow and Goodwitch, even Oz. I was so irrationally angry, I wanted to hate everyone.

But I couldn't. That wasn't who I was anymore. I was Mommy Quicksilver and I had to be kind and gentle.

I couldn't be Faceless here.

The image of my mask had me scrambling for the bushes. I threw up all the liquid in my stomach because of course, I hadn't had time to eat anything before I decided to drink myself stupid.

I held onto the stone bench next to me like a lifeline, as I spewed all the liquor in my stomach out into the dying rosebushes. The more I threw up, the dizzier I got.

My hair was gently pulled away from my face and held back while another hand held my shoulder, keeping me from slipping to the ground and landing in my own vomit.

"C'mon now, pup. I know your tolerance and one measly bottle shouldn't make you this gone. Or if it has, I want some of it cause it's better than what I have." A gruff voice said somewhere next to me.

I tried to answer but my stomach had other plans.

I spent the next several minutes throwing up while Qrow murmured soothingly and held me up. When I was done he leaned me against a marble pillar and sat down next to me. "This is not my first bottle, bastard." I said groggily, motioning to the bottles that laid off to the side of the bench. His red eyes widened and looked at me. "Sixth." I murmured and tipped the bottle back. "Whoa there. I know you're having a rough time but six bottles?" I shrugged, finally becoming numb to the pain that had surrounded me the past couple of days.

He sighed, draped an arm over my shoulders and took my bottle. I protested weakly, falling against his side but he took a deep swig and coughed a little. "Jeez, pup, that stuff will melt your teeth."

I bared my teeth at him. "Still got em." He was warm, so I sagged deeper against his side. He took another drink and set the bottle aside. "You aren't looking good, girl." I shrugged again. "I'll try to look better next time I drink m'self stupid." He snorted and looked down at me. I wondered what he saw.

"That's not what I meant, Dahlia. You look fine for having downed five and a half bottles of this stuff. I'm talking about you. You don't look like you're doing well after what happened." To my shame, tears started rolling down my cheeks. "I know." I said in a shaky voice.

"Oh jeez, pup. I didn't mean to make your cry." He said, concerned. I started to shake uncontrollably. It was okay. Qrow had seen me much worse than this before.

"Like I'd ever cry in front of you, bastard." I had, several times in fact, but this was the response he expected. He chuckled darkly, hugging me closer to try and stop my trembling. "They're here, Qrow. Someone tried to kill me. And someone left the Faceless mask on my pillow. They're here." He shushed me and rubbed my back in soothing circles. "I know, pup. I know." The tears wouldn't stop. "I've tried to find them. I've tried to fix this before it got bad but everytime I get close, something falls apart again. They want me back. They're trying to turn me back." I sobbed, growing so dizzy with my fear.

"Sorry, pup, but they can't have you." I managed to focus on him as he said that. "They can't?" He shook his head. "We already claimed you. You're a hero. Everyone here respects and cares for you. They can't have you back. You're ours now." Qrow knew more about me than anyone. Even Oz. Qrow, for all his drunken recklessness, was the one who had saved me. He had helped me fake my own death and had helped me begin a new life. He had encouraged me to become a Huntress and had taken measures to make sure I was accepted here.

"I trust you, Qrow. You know that, right?" Maybe he sighed but I couldn't tell. "Never heard that one before. But thanks, pup. I just… I hope what we are doing here will make it so you don't have to keep picking up the pieces."

What are you doing here? I thought to myself. I was beginning to sober up way too quickly. I wanted the bottle back but I knew that it wouldn't help. My Quick-Heal was metabolizing the alcohol like it would any poison. Soon, I'd be sober and I'd have to head back to the infirmary.

"He'll never let me go, you know? As long as I'm alive, Omar will hunt me. His army… is unimaginable, Qrow. He'll always want Faceless back."

I had to say Faceless like it was a different person. Like that name… didn't belong to me. "As long as he wants Faceless, everyone I know will be in danger."

Qrow carefully put his head on mine and wrapped his other arm around me. "Faceless is dead, Dahlia. He can't hunt someone who is dead."

I shuddered, the pain that the alcohol had numbed returned in force. "No. Faceless isn't dead. Faceless is alive and waiting… in here." My hand balled up in my chest. "Waiting for me to snap and put the mask back on. Once I do that… I'll be lost. Dahlia will die… but at least everyone she knew would be safe."

Qrow's feelings began to clear up as my Semblance was unblocked by the alcohol. It made me cry some more. He cared. He was afraid for me, for his nieces, for his friends and he was afraid for me. But he was also scared of me, scared of Faceless who still lurked inside of me.

"It's not worth it, pup. Putting on that mask will not save your friends. I think that you can. Just by being yourself. There is more to you than just a killer. It took a while but I found an incredible woman underneath the assassin and I'm not willing to give her up so easily."

I could hear his powerful heart beating in my ear and it was soothing. "Please… don't give up on me, bastard. Anyone but you." I whispered. I was still shaking but it was beginning to subside. As long as Qrow believed in me, I could do it. I had become a Huntress just like he had said. I had saved lives. All those Faunus in the Tunnels would have died had my team and I not gone back for them. Faceless would have abandoned them without a second thought. Dahlia had saved them.

"I'm stubborn enough for the both of us, pup. I won't give up on you. You can do anything you desire if you want to. You wanted a new life and I've seen what you've built. Everyone loves you. You've found your pack. Now fight for us, Dahlia." I nodded, his shirt soft beneath my cheek. "How's Raven?" I asked.

He chuckled. "The same. Still has that scar you gave her." I snorted, making me dizzy again. "She earned it." My tears dried up and I finally stopped shaking. The pain was still there but I had lanced it like a boil and drained it. It wouldn't heal yet. For that, I needed to save Mama Thayet. But Qrow said I could do anything. So I would save her. My Semblance was strong. It had never let me down. I would save her, no matter what.

"Can you get me to the infirmary?" I asked. He looked at me worried. "You feel that bad?" I chuckled and wiped my cheeks off. "No, bastard. I've got work to do." _Lives to save._

"Alright, pup. Only if you promise to go to sleep soon." I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me up. Orchid was still at the infirmary, next to Mama Thayet's rehabilitation tank. "You're very kind, Qrow. Very noble." He snorted. "You must be drunker than I thought." He left the courtyard and walked slowly back to the infirmary, lulling me with his movement. "Deny it all you want, bastard. Pretend you're nothing more than a drunken rapscallion. I know better." He adjusted his grip on me, making me a little more comfortable. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't tell anyone, eh? I've got a reputation to uphold."

I chuckled dryly. For the first time in a while, I didn't feel so broken. I didn't think of my past, or Mountain Glenn or Vasilius. I thought of the future, which was mutable and changeable. The past was set in stone but my future was mine to control. Would I be Faceless… or would I be Dahlia?

I wondered who could save this wretch world. The deadliest assassin Remnant had ever known or a Faunus girl who was so small in the scheme of things.

Qrow carried me into the infirmary and set me down in my rolling chair.

Maybe I was small in the larger scheme but to the people in this room, I was like a messiah.

"So this her?" Qrow said quietly, staring at Elisa Thayet in her tank.

"Yep. That's the last survivor of the Vasilius Massacre. The twin's mother." I rolled to Yatsuhashi and Coco and began to Heal them. I would heal everyone in the building and by morning I would turn all my attentions to Mama Thayet.

My hands splayed out to the two second year students and I felt their wounds vanish. I was still a little fuzzy from drinking but it somehow made everything easier. Pain in my soul was consumed in my determined resolve. I would fix this. Once I Healed Mama Thayet, I would hunt down Cinder and her comrades. I would finish my schooling, I would hunt down the Family as they hunted me. I would find Omar in his lair and kill him. I would find his assocaites and destroy them and clean Remnant of their filth. I would once and for all, kill Faceless. One step at a time.

First I would save Mama Thayet. I would give her back to the twins and bully Ironwood into giving her legs. It would all start now.

I turned and looked at Qrow, who was staring at me as I worked.

"The future is mine to make. My destiny is mine to control. And it all starts tonight, bastard." I smiled and I felt a strange emotion in Qrow, quickly covered up.

I rolled down the row to the next patient. "Everything starts now."


	44. Chapter 44

"I swear, I saw him, Dahlia. He was right there with me but he had gotten taken out in the geyser fields a second before." I studied Coco's emotions as I ate a quick meal between patients. I hadn't slept yet, even though I said I would to Qrow but there was so much to do.

Sleep could wait a few days.

Coco wasn't hysterical, she wasn't lying and I had seen her fight before. She didn't get stressed enough to have hallucinations like the Atlas specialists were saying. The notion was slightly ridiculous but there was no other explanation for the sight. At least none that anyone else was willing to bring up.

My lips pressed together with the thought and I nodded to Coco. "I believe you. I don't believe it was a hallucination but… I have to keep my mouth shut for now." Coco nodded understanding. With so many Atlas personnel around me, I had to be extra careful with my words. I had no doubt that these 'helpers' were also spies. Ironwood was watching me very carefully.

I rolled to my counter and brought back an herbal mix. "Steep this for two minutes and drink it for the headaches. Same goes for Yatsu. Get plenty of rest and stick with plain food." She nodded and stood, more than ready to change out of her infirmary gown. Coco was nothing if not stylish. "Yes, Mommy. And thank you for getting us on our feet so fast." I winked and drank more coffee. It burned my nose hairs but it was strong. "Stay out of here, will ya?" I called after her before I rolled to my 'desk' and glanced at the screen.

A knock startled me and I nearly dumped my pot of coffee in my lap. "Come in!" I cried, wheeling to a bed to prepare for whatever was coming through the door. Bleeding, head trauma, broken bone, whatever.

I was not prepared to see Winter enter, looking surprisingly guilty.

" Winter! How can I help you?" I asked, taking a big gulp of coffee, wishing it were whiskey instead. "I, ah, came to see you before I go. I was supposed to leave last night but you were... busy." I raised an eyebrow but motioned for her to sit. Busy, that's a nice way of saying wasted."I would like… to thank you. For all your work here. I know it… can't have been easy." I shrugged. "T'is my burden. It's not the first I've had to bear." She nodded and chewed on her lower lip sweetly. "I also would like to ask you to… continue watching over Weiss. She is very precious to me and I worry." I smiled and eased her fears with a flick of my thoughts. "She is a precious person and I will personally ensure her well being, Winter. Although, you might've seen but she isn't alone and is quite capable herself." Winter smiled. "Yes, she is. She has grown strong here and it relieves me to see that she has made friends… I'm just worried about our Father."

Mmm, something I could relate to. I already knew plenty about Jacques Schnee. "Don't worry, Winter. Weiss is stronger than she thinks. I think your Father might be very surprised that his little princess is now a warrior with her own mind and heart." Hearing my words, her knot of worry was let go. It pleased me to know that Winter was realizing how capable Weiss was and that, despite harboring ill feelings towards her Father, Winter held nothing but caring for her younger sister. Just like any good older sister.

"Thank you, Dahlia. I must be going but... I hope that we can meet again in the future." I nodded and smiled as Winter stood, saluted and the left the infirmary.

I sighed and looked at my screen, watching Penny finish up her match. She made it all look so easy. The next matchup was Weiss and Yang versus two people from Atlas. It was quite entertaining to watch but I found myself nodding off during most of it.

I had no idea that Weiss had been hurt till my team and the rest of team RWBY came carrying her in. "Guys, I'm fine." A very sooty Weiss said as they laid her on the nearest available bed. "You can fix her, can't you, Dahlia?" Blake said worriedly. "Of course." I said rolling over to the crowd, rubbing my eyes.

"Dahlia, when was the last time you slept?" Elise said sternly, with her hands on her hips. I chuckled. "Don't worry. I've been catching naps between patients." I said. I mean, I had just taken one now and I was counting it. I looked Weiss over, noting no extreme injuries. The only thing I was concerned about was her lungs. If she had breathed in hot air, it would cause severe damage, Aura or no.

I hovered my hands just above her chest and stretched healing strands into her. She hadn't breathed in hot air but plenty of ash and soot. "Weiss, this isn't going to be very fun. Everyone, please leave." They all looked at me as if I actually believed they were going to leave. I sighed. "I don't believe Weiss wants everyone here to see her coughing up everything she breathed in. It's isn't going to be a pretty sight." Weiss heard this and told everyone to go. And they did. Just outside the door.

I rolled my eyes. "Now, dearling, I want you to take a deep breath in and breathe out slowly. This will feel a little strange." She did as I asked and moments later a cloud of ash exhaled from her lips. "Keep going." I murmured, pressing her lungs to reject the ash. Weiss struggled to keep exhaling. "C'mon, sweetheart, just a little more."

Ash mixed with her saliva and became a tar like compound that leaked down her cheeks and onto the pillow. I goaded her lungs further, pushing the ash and soot out till finally it was gone. Weiss gasped and slumped down. "Excellent job, Weiss. I'll have you on your feet in no time." She smiled, looking ghastly with the black ash against her white skin. "Thanks, Mommy." She whispered raggedly. I healed the minor burns, and bruises she had picked up before going to work on the delicate tissues of her throat.

She was fast asleep by the time I had started on her throat. She had put on a good fight in the arena. She deserved the sleep. Once, she was healed, I carefully undressed her and wiped her down with a wet soft cloth. Sometimes, I forgot how tiny Weiss was. How much her clothing was like armor for her. The long sleeves and flared cuffs hid thin, graceful arms and small, delicate wrists. Her dress concealed the tiny waist that showed her finely made ribs through paper thin skin. Even her boots made her look taller than she was and hid the fact that her calves were very lean. She had muscle of course but it was very lean and had only just developed to strength.

She was going to be stunning when she grew older. Absolutely stunning.

I dressed her in an infirmary gown and laid her clothes off to the side to be cleaned while she slept. I unbound her her hair and brushed it clean, soothed by the pull of the brush through her soft fine hair. She made cute little noises in her sleep.

I promised Winter I would look out for her, I thought fondly. I kissed her forehead and tucked her in. "Sweet sleep, lovely girl. I'll watch over you." She murmured something in her sleep and then fell silent. I tucked her blankets up under her chin and rolled to the door where the rest of her team and mine waited.

"She'll be fine in a few hours. She just needs some time to rest." I said, hoping that the weariness in my voice wasn't as obvious as it sounded. The way Blake looked at me, it was. "You all are more than welcome to stay and watch the rest of the fights here but I think it'd be more fun if you went to the stadium." I said smiling. Elise smiled at me a little bit and came inside, taking another chair. Peyton and Elin followed her. The others looked at each other and said goodbye. It made me smile to think that none of them had to speak to know what the others were thinking.

I was left in a quiet building with my pack whom I could sense were about to jump all over me.

The moment the door clicked shut, Elise started in. "You haven't slept in days. I'm not talking about naps, I'm talking about a full night's sleep cuddled up with your lover." Her lips pressed together firmly in a way that let me know she wasn't playing around. I sighed and rubbed my temples slowly. "Things have been tense lately. Oz hasn't slept either and I have a lot of work here that has to be done."

Elin sighed and came around behind me. "There are other healers, Dahlia. You don't have to fix everyone." No, just one in particular, I thought to myself. He started massaging my tense shoulders. "This is a festival. With all that's… happened… we need a break. We need time, just like before, to recover. You and Elise most of all. You can't keep pushing yourself, darling, or something will give. Take a break. A couple of hours, and spend time with Oz. He needs it as much as you do and he won't admit it before you do." Much to my chagrin, he was right. I needed to be in peak condition to handle Mama Thayet. I couldn't afford to be in shambles when the time came to wake her up.

And Oz… I hadn't seen much of him since I came back from Vasilius and I felt his absence like a gaping hole in my chest. He had been running himself ragged, for the Vytal Festival and for whatever job he and Qrow were working on.

I sighed and leaned back.

They all looked at me expectantly.

"Fine. A few hours. I can't be away too long with all the Atlas personnel here. If they think I'm slacking off or can't handle the workload, they'll take your mother from me." I said, my voice turning frosty near the end. Damn those Atlas specialists and their so called 'expertise'. They only cared about one thing and it was not Mama Thayet's life.

The other's understood immediately and gave in at that. The twins turned especially cold. They had kept remarkable restraint over themselves when it came to their mother. It made me proud that they were staying calm. They knew I would do everything in my power to save her.

They trusted me.

I smiled tiredly. "I'll go now since Weiss is asleep and won't be up for a long while. I'll tell Miriam to keep an eye on her while I'm gone." Elise reached over and took my hand in hers, squeezing it gently. I could feel her wishing she could give me some of her strength and I loved her for it.

"Before you leave, I have presents." Peyton said after his long silence. I looked at his face and saw the stress lines that furrowed his brow but there was a pleased sparkle in his lovely green eyes. Elise grinned and Elin simply smiled. I could feel his love for Peyton wash over me and I marveled at its strength and depth.

"What do you have for us, Peyton?" I asked, interested in what Peyton had been fiddling with. He reached in his belt pouch and pulled out four strange devices. They looked like sleek black earpieces. "I've been developing something that will make it easier for us to communicate. These four are linked together and they fit just like this." He picked up one and fit it on his right ear. A little loop went over the back of his ear and a small speaker fitting right into his ear directly. Then once it was settled, I watched tiny little strands of something creep out about an inch and meld to his skin. "I've designed it to only work for the one who puts it on first, that way no one can steal it and it makes it harder for someone to try and rip off." I was fascinated with the device. It was very clever. "Go on." I said, eager to hear more.

Peyton smiled and tapped the side of the earpiece once and a small microphone came out of the bottom, reaching his cheekbone. "One tap and you can speak with anyone in the group, instantaneously, by saying their name. Now to talk back to whoever is calling, the person being called has to also tap their earpiece once. Or you can call all of us into a group call by saying 'team'. But that isn't the best part." Peyton looked extremely proud. He tapped the earpiece twice. From the front of the earpiece, a small antenna shot out and turned 90 degrees so that it rest in front of his right eye. The part in front of his eye expanded into a small see through screen. "It links up to your Scrolls so you can call up data and see it right in front of you by tapping the earpiece and asking for whatever file you're looking for, or if you need a visual from another team member, just say that person's name and 'visual'. There is a small camera right here." He pointed at the front of the ear piece. "So you can see what someone else is seeing. Then to get rid of the screen, just press the side of the earpiece for three seconds. The only thing that won't ever turn off is the camera unless you tell the earpiece 'off' and tap it three times. That way, if you're in trouble, all of us can see where you are." He held out the earpieces to us and we all took them eagerly.

"Peyton, you're a bloody genius!" Elise said. The large boy looked a little smug but I let him have his moment. These little devices were a revolutionary idea. My mind was already spinning, thinking of how these could be used.

"Alright, everyone put them on so it can recognize you as their owner." I did so, settling it just right on my ear. It was a little strange having something there but I would get used to it. This device was invaluable and I told myself that I would rarely if ever take it off.

The little strands of tech were slightly cold as the melded with the skin around it but it wasn't unpleasant. "This is incredible, Peyton." I smiled a genuine smile, few as they were. "Thank you." The huge man blushed. "You're very welcome, Mommy. It's just really nice to see you smile again."

Elin grinned. "Alright, oh fearless leader. Times up. Go find Oz and bully him into cuddling with you for a little while." I sighed. "Or I'll bully you." Elise said, crossing her slim arms in front of her heavy chest. Those deceptively slim arms that could bench Peyton, Martris and Cardin combined easily.

I pretended to pout. "Not fair. When you bully me, it hurts!" Everyone laughed and I stood up with Elin's help and grabbed Orchid. "We'll head to the Coliseum to catch a few more fights. Only a few more days till the finals rounds. I'm gonna crush them." Elise said with relish. She and Elin had gone on to the next round and massacred their opponents in a record time. I was very proud. Elise was, of course, sent onto the finals round.

Part of me wondered how we could all be laughing now, with everything that had happened. The other part was relieved that we could.

Perhaps… we were getting used to the pain and just enjoying the moments when we weren't surrounded by it.

I limped from the infirmary and about ten steps away I tapped my earpiece. I couldn't see the microphone but I knew it was there. "Team." I said. Then I waited.

"Hello, Dahlia."

"Hi, Dally."

"How did I know you were going to do that?"

There was laughter in their voices. "I wanted to try out my new toy."

Peyton laughed. "I'm glad you like it." I walked, in complete awe of Peyton's skills. They sounded so clear. It was amazing. After a little chat, I hung up on them and the microphone retracted back into the earpiece. What a wonder.

I limped all the way to Oz's office, checking with my Semblance before I went in. He was in his office, several cups of coffee in and very, very tired. He'd gotten less sleep than I had since the Vasilius Massacre. I had drunk myself to sleep a few nights. Oz didn't have that luxury.

I smiled when he saw me and I felt his heart leap with joy. Too long things had been tense between us. With his overwork and my guilt and despair… things had been hard.

"Dahlia?" He asked, suddenly growing worried. "Why are you here?" I chuckled and came inside. "Team's orders. I have to take a long nap and I was told to make you come with me." He relaxed. I wasn't bringing bad news again. I just wanted to spend time with him.

He seemed so burdened.

"You're more than welcome to sleep here, my love. I'm afraid I can't." I walked to his desk. "What has you so busy that you can't take a few hours to come spend time with me?" I asked bluntly. I hadn't gotten any more eloquent with my overwork. I felt bad immediately for making him feel guilty.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm tired and spoke without thinking. I know you're very busy. I'll head back to the infirmary." I said, coming to give him a quick kiss. He grabbed my hands when I tried to leave. "Why?" He asked quietly.

I looked at him and smiled sadly. "I only agreed to take a break because I wanted to see you. I've missed you so much since everything happened. I was a wreck and I know it. I couldn't have been very pleasant to be around." I said sardonically. When I was in a bad mood, unpleasant is an understatement of what it's like being around me. "But I'm on the mend. Working in the infirmary helps a lot. I just… wanted to see you." I finished lamely.

The ache in Oz took me by surprise. I had missed him and he had yearned for me with all his being. He had forced himself to stay away from the infirmary to give me the space I needed to recover. He couldn't sleep without being able to feel me next to him.

I knew the feeling.

I grasped his hand tightly. "Can't you spare a few hours? We both need our rest. Please, my love?" I asked, once again hearing the overwhelming weariness in my voice. After little deliberation, he agreed and we went to his room. It was bright but the curtains around the bed blocked out much of it.

I turned over and fit myself perfectly into the curve of his body. Neither of us had changed. We took our shoes off and he removed his scarf and jacket and we both fell into bed.

"I missed you, my heart." He whispered into my hair. He wrapped his arms around me and oh, it felt so good. So right.

"I'm sorry I was so terrible when I came back." I murmured back, kissing his fingers. "Don't be. You held together amazingly well for someone who did what you did. I heard Commander Ryke's report. He has a deep admiration for you and your team. I think he'd follow you anywhere. You're a natural leader." I could feel his smile.

I turned my head to him and he nuzzled my cheek. "I know I would." He said, pressing his lips to my temple.

"It all just happened so fast. The Grimm attack in Vale and the Massacre. I know it was weeks apart but still. It feels so fast." He sighed heavily and I could feel the guilt inside him. Something he wouldn't… no, couldn't say to me.

He cuddled me closer. "I wish I could protect you better. I wish I knew the next play in the game so I could prevent it someway that would keep you well out of it." He meant every word but he and I both knew. I wore trouble like a crown. It followed me everywhere.

"Don't worry, Oz, my love. My destiny is in my control. Sleep now. I claim my future tonight and I need some rest. So do you." I murmured, laying my head back down on the pillow. "What do you mean?" He asked, concerned and curious.

I smiled and closed my eyes. "Tonight, I'm waking up Elisa Thayet. And I'm going to save her."


	45. Chapter 45

Night had fallen and for the first time since I came back to Beacon from Vasilius, I was well rested and full of energy. In the wake of the sorrow from the Vasilius Massacre, there was one shining ray of hope: Mama Thayet.

She had survived the Massacre and was the only one who knew the truth of what had happened there.

And I was going to save her.

Oz watched me leave with trepidation but I banished those doubts. Atlas personnel would already be asleep and there would be no distractions. I could immediately get to work and they could question her when she was stable on her own.

"Just promise me, you won't go too far. You'll take care of yourself." He said, brushing his gentle fingers through my hair. I smiled warmly and kissed his fingertips. "I promise. I'll even remember to eat." He chuckled at that and kissed me goodbye.

"Oh! I forgot to ask what you've been so busy with." I said as he sat down at his desk. "Whatever do you mean?" He asked, faking innocence. I leaned a hip against Orchid. "What have you been up to that has you, Glynda, the General and Qrow locked in your office daily?" I wasn't fooled one bit. Those four were up to something.

And me being me, I dislike not knowing when people were up to things behind closed doors.

He sighed and sipped his coffee. "Dahlia. Believe me when I say if I could tell you, I would. But I'm sworn to secrecy." I looked at him strangely but nodded. Whatever it was, I was confident that I would find out when I needed to. He smiled, grateful that I hadn't pushed him. Then he hesitated.

"Dahlia?" I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, my love?"

I got the feeling from him that my answer was of grave importance. So I was intensely curious about what he wanted to ask me.

"You know Pyrrha Nikos well, yes?" Well. That was not a question I was expecting. "I do. We've been fairly close friends since the beginning of the school year. Team JNPR is a sister team of my own." He nodded and I could almost see the gears turning in his head. "What do you think of her?"

I thought about it. Pyrrha was one of the people I held in very high regard and felt very close to. She was one of the few people who understood what it was like to be put on a pedestal and then isolated by the people who put you there.

"Pyrrha is… the kind of person that makes you feel safe and cared for. Obviously, she is the most capable young warrior in a century but she isn't haughty. She's sweet, compassionate and intelligent. When she graduates, she'll be the kind of Huntress that gets written into history not just as the strongest, but also the kindest. Here, we'll remember her laughter and her bravery. Her smile and the fact that she always lent a helping hand to the small things as well as the big things. She would always help you, no matter what it was. And I think that says something important about a person. A lot of people only care about the big things, the kind of moments that are monumental in the eyes of everyone. But someone who cares about the things that are small to the masses but huge to the individual… that's the kind of person that can change the world."

I thought my answer would settle while it pleased him, he also felt very, very sad. "Oz? Why are you asking about Pyrrha?"

A heartbeat later, his emotions were covered up and he smiled at me like nothing was the matter. "Just a thought, my love. She is the top of my school and I think she could be very useful for a few missions I have in mind." I nodded. Pyrrha was someone I trusted unreservedly. I had no doubt she would excel at anything put before her. "Pyrrha is ready for anything, Oz. Set her a task and she'll rise to it." He smiled again, wanly.

"I've got to go. It's time." I said, suddenly not wanting to continue this conversation. "Good luck." He said, turning his screens on.

I was in the elevator when I heard him speak.

"She is precious to me. I hope this is all worth it."

_Hmmmm. I wonder who in the world he could be talking to._

* * *

The infirmary was very quiet. I had done a lot of work the past few days and everyone had been turned out. Weiss had been taken care of by one of the other healers and was safely in her own bed. I was alone, except for Mama Thayet in her tank.

I prepared a private room, cleaning it meticulously and making the bed as comfortable as I could. Then I mentally prepared myself as I stood before the Atlas machinery that had kept Mama Thayet stable.

I took a deep breath in and punched the code into the keypad connected to the tank, extending my healing threads into Mama Thayet's body. The easiest thing to do was tie her reactions to mine. Her heart beat at the same time as mine, she breathed when I did, blinked when I did. All the basics for human survival.

Then the tank hissed as the door unlatched and lifted away. _Aiya._

I lifted her into my arms, grunting a little bit. Mama Thayet wasn't fat but she had some meat on her bones and despite her missing legs, she was still heavy.

I carried her into the private room and laid her on the bed. I carefully pulled the sheets and blankets over her, leaving her arms on top.

I could feel the slight drain on my Semblance but since I had tied her to myself it was no effort. I didn't worry about it. "Alright, Mama Thayet. Time for you to rejoin the world." I murmured, reaching into my Semblance. I found the strand tied to her brain and gave it a little nudge. Her awareness came slowly and I could feel her wanting to panic but her heart stayed in time with mine.

Her eyes fluttered open and she and I took a deep breath in. Her beautiful brown eyes, the same color as her daughter's opened fully and stared at me. "D...Dah...lia?" She said as we exhaled. "Hey, Mama. We missed you." Her eyes teared up and I blinked a couple of times for her. "You came. You really came. T-Thank God." She said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I took her strong hand, heavy with square cut nails in my own and squeezed carefully. "Of course I did. We couldn't just leave you there."

She looked at me with clear eyes. "Vasilius?" My lower lip trembled a little when I shook my head. "Gone. You were the only survivor." Her thoughts became clearer as she began to wake up more. She slowly shook her head. "Gods have mercy. Oh no…" She cried and it was hard since she had to breath with me. I clasped her hand tightly and held against her grief. She had witnessed her friends, her neighbors, everyone she'd known torn to pieces by the Grimm.

"I'm so sorry, Mama Thayet. I never thought in a million years something like this would happen. Vasilius was a strong village. It had weathered years of attacks and with the communications so strong, we never saw this coming." She shook her head. "No one could have predicted this, my silver bird." She was shaking and it took some work to control it on my part. "What do you mean, Mama?"

We took several breaths together before she felt ready to answer. "It wasn't just the Grimm, sweet girl." My eyes widened. It wasn't just Grimm? But all the signs were clear as that from a heavy Grimm attack.

"Dahlia." She said with an air of dread. "They had Grimm Tamers." I sucked in a short gasped and apologized to her because she also gasped and that wasn't good for her. Grimm Tamers? What in the world?

"Who is they?" Mama Thayet's eyes grew very far away.

"We didn't realize what was going on till we heard the first screams. They rode in, a girl riding a white King Taijitu and a boy riding a black one. They had an army of Grimm with them and they destroyed everything. They were so young and no one knew what was going on. We had no time to defend ourselves. I was in the garden when it all happened. A young beowolf took my legs but I managed to collapse the shed down on it and me. I passed out a little later from the pain. They ordered the Grimm to kill everyone. Down to the children. They wore White Fang uniforms but I could see another mark tattooed on their foreheads that I didn't recognize."

I shook my head in disbelief. Hadn't Ironwood said that there had been two people on the radio, assuring that everyone was safe?

No one had even thought of Grimm Tamers. Why would we? They were so rare and were carefully managed so that their Semblance was put to good use, protecting cities and villages. "Mama, can you remember what they had tattooed on their foreheads?" My body had gone totally numb. _Please no… don't let it be…_

"It was a thin crescent moon, red as a rose. Yes… red as blood."

Those two were of the Taken.

Children like Ghost weren't marked because he was born into the Regime. Ghost's mother had sold her baby boy for a better life which Omar gave her. Ghost had been raised to worship Omar. He needed no proof of loyalty. Others were taken. Young children stolen or bought and then converted to the Regime. They were marked so that they would never betray Omar and the New Order. Those with the mark were called Taken and were often considered the grunts of the New Order. Those two though, were something special. They had led a kill party without direct supervision from one of Omar's inner circle.

Taken they might be but I knew that they were loyal to Omar and his filthy Regime.

Omar had commanded the attack on Vasilius. He had authorized the killing of an entire village. Why?

For me, of course. He wanted me to know what he could do, if I continued being disloyal.

Anger flowed in my veins as surely as blood did. How dare he. How _dare_ he slaughter those innocent people just to torment me. He wanted me to play the game.

I would kill him. I'd kill him and all his Children. I leaned my forehead down till I touched Mama Thayet's hand. "I promise, Mama Thayet. They won't get away with this. The people of Vasilius will be avenged for their deaths."

Her other hands stroked my head softly. "Be careful, silver bird. Be careful you don't turn into something you're not." My heart felt like it was on fire. _I'm sorry, Mama Thayet. I'm already much worse than they are. I just hide it better._

I leaned up and smiled. "Yes, Mama." I tapped my ear piece. "Elin, Elise." I said.

"What's up, Dally?" Mama Thayet smiled. "There is someone here that would like to see you both." There was silence on the other side. A few minutes later, a pair of disheveled twins busted through my infirmary door and then into the private room. I felt all the Thayet's heart well up with happiness. "Mom?" Elin's voice cracked.

"Hello, my beautiful children." Mama Thayet said, carefully raising her arms, with a little help on my part. Very carefully, the twins snuggled into their mother's side, crying happily. I let myself out of the room quietly, not going too far. My connection with Mama Thayet was tenuous and delicate. I took some concentration to keep it active and strong. I couldn't afford to stumble now.

I pulled out my school Scroll and messaged Ironwood.

_General. I have the answers you are searching for in regards to the Vasilius Massacre. Meet me in the Infirmary come morning and come quietly. We have much to discuss._

* * *

"Grimm Tamers?" General Ironwood said, pouring whiskey into his coffee. I thought it was a little early in the morning to already have whiskey but honestly, I had no room to speak. I nodded and poured myself another cup. He and I sat by my desk, close enough to the room I could keep Mama Thayet going but far enough that we would intrude.

"The White Fang have a pair of Grimm Tamers…" His heart was heavy and he was filled with worry. Grimm Tamers were so rare and counteracting them was nearly impossible. A single Grimm Tamer could control a massive amount of creatures at once and could be used with devastating effect. The idea of Omar having control of two Grimm Tamers was enough to make me sick. I hadn't mentioned the tattoos. Ironwood would ask some uncomfortable questions if he found out that I knew so much about the New Order and its leader.

After all, I had once been its General.

"This changes a lot, Dahlia. I'll enforce more security and have a watch set out for people who fit Mrs. Thayet's descriptions of the two. Gods, Grimm Tamers. As if things weren't difficult enough." He sighed and I put my hand on his arm. "They weren't expecting any survivors. We have the upper hand for now." His frown deepened and creased his handsome face. "Eighty seven good, innocent people died for us to get that upper hand."

Pain flared in my chest and I tamped it down hard. I would get revenge for those eighty seven people. Those two Grimm Tamers were forfeit the second they led those Grimm to a place I considered to be a home.

"Then make their sacrifice worth it, General." With a few strands of healing, I healed the soul wounds that had been left by the Massacre. I built his confidence and gave him relief and determination. It was harder than usual, with much of my concentration focused on Mama Thayet. It was uncomfortable for me to remember that my Semblance was not limitless.

"I promise, Dahlia. I'll make sure they didn't die for nothing." Ironwood said, putting his hand over mine. "Be careful." I murmured. His smile was very kind and his feelings were gentle. He cared about me and was fond of me. It was strange, but even though I was a student, he believed me in some ways to be an equal.

"I will be." His Scroll beeped. "Glynda is here. I have to go." He shouldered an unseen burden and stood. A burden that felt very familiar to me. The same one Oz seemed to be carrying about. "Goodbye… James." I said, testing the waters a bit. He chuckled. "Goodbye, Dahlia." He left right afterwards.

Maybe the key to getting over something like the Massacre was forgiveness. Not of those who did it, for I would never forgive Omar and his Children, but I forgave Winter. I forgave Ironwood. It made me feel lighter and more able to accept. It still haunted me like a specter in my mind but it joined the ranks of memories that always lurked in my mind. It hadn't been long and part of me was ashamed that I could so easily put Vasilius into that dark box in the corner of my mind. All those memories of bodies and crows and blood.

But my team had done the same. Even Elise. She was so strong and how could I tell her to move on from those memories if I couldn't?

I was moving on. I had the future to look after now and I couldn't coddle those dark memories. If I was to shape my destiny into something bright then how could I allow myself to linger in darkness? Lessons that I was starting to teach myself. Hard lessons.

Elin and Elise came out of the room. Their faces were tear stained but they were happy. "Mom says that you need time with her so we're headed out. We'll be back later with Peyton. Are you alright?" Elise said, holding her brother's hand.

"I'm good. If you could bring me more coffee, that'd be great. I'm almost out of it." I looked at the half a pot I had left. Elin nodded and smiled gently. "That stuff will stunt your growth you know." I chuckled and took another sip. "Does it look like any of me needs more growing?"

The willowy boy raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

"C'mon. Dally's got work to do." Elise said, tugging her brother out of my infirmary. Funny how it was now _my_ infirmary. I didn't actually own the building but apparently, unspoken rules and such, the building had become part of my territory.

I growled with pleasure and stood slowly to head to the private room.

"Ah, my silver bird. I need your help. I'm having trouble writing on my own and my handwriting looks a mess." She sounded cranky and it made me smile. Just her presence made me smile.

"Alright, Mama." I said, taking the papers from her and looking them over. I felt my eyebrows furrow together. "I want to make sure all my affairs are in order." She said stubbornly. I looked at the kind faced woman who looked so like her daughter. "Mama Thayet, you don't have to do this. You'll be fine soon, I just have to heal you."

She eyed me strangely. "Darling, near death experiences put many things into perspective. I'd like to have this done in any case." I sighed and took the pen from her and pulled out a clean sheet. I rested the clipboard on my propped up leg. "In any case, Mama Thayet. Alright, where would you like to begin?"

* * *

I'll hand it to that woman, she has one hell of a no-nonsense attitude, I thought to myself. She had all her affairs in order, everything planned out in the event of her death. Since she had no other living relatives besides Elin and Elise and her husband had left her when the twins had been children, everything she had left went to her son and daughter.

Restitution pay had been gifted to her by Ironwood as well as the promise of new legs as soon as she was strong enough to stand. The pay she had given, as well as all the money she had saved up over the years. It was a fairly substantial sum. I had the legal documents drawn up the next day once everything had settled down.

It had not been an enjoyable afternoon for me. Not with all that happened to Yang.

I still couldn't understand why Mercury had gone back to Haven when I was here and I was far more skilled than any healer in Haven. It's not arrogance speaking. I knew all the healers in Haven and none matched my skill. If Mercury had been hit that badly by Yang, why rush him all the way back to Haven?

It made me grind my teeth I was so frustrated. I couldn't go out and find out myself so I sent out my team to sniff around for me. I even called some of my old contacts in Haven to see if they knew anything.

All anybody knew was this: the world saw Mercury coming up to shake hands with Yang who had won her round. Then Yang shotgun punched the boy's leg and he crumpled like a tin can. Yang swore she saw him attack her but the camera footage said otherwise.

I had tried to get a hold of the golden haired girl but she had been ignoring me. Ignoring everyone. Oh, I hated being on the sidelines. If I had been there, I could've seen for myself what happened!

I had already talked to everyone I could. Ironwood, Oz, Qrow, Jaune, Ruby, Blake, everyone! Everyone say the same thing. Yang had been disqualified and was pending suspension. All we could do was wait for Mercury to land in Haven so he could be questioned about what happened on that stage.

Elise had seen the whole thing and was really worried. She had seen Yang's face just before she attacked Mercury. "I don't know, Dahlia. She looked surprised, shocked and then angry. She told me he said to her 'There won't be a next time, Blondie.' after she told him better luck next time. Then he jumped at her like he was going to try and take her down while her back was turned." Yet none of that had been caught on camera.

Not knowing was driving me insane and I wanted a drink but I had to keep my wits about me to heal Mama Thayet. And Gods know, I was trying.

I rubbed my temples. "Why wasn't Mercury brought to me?" I muttered. "What was that, silver bird?" Mama Thayet said, signing the last of her documents. Her color was better and her voice was stronger which I took to be good signs. "Nothing, Mama. Just talking to myself." She smiled and finished her signature with a final flourish. "Ah, done."

"Now, where is that handsome man?" She said, looking around. I raised my eyebrow. "Which one, we got lots here." She laughed but doing so exhausted her. I couldn't keep her energy levels up and her body refused to hold steady.

I poured more into the strands connected to her and then drank more coffee to counteract the fatigue it brought on. "The one that's been hovering around you like a wolf with one pup." She said, smiling cheekily from her pillow. Oh, that woman.

"Did I hear someone say handsome?" A familiar brusque voice said from the doorway. I rolled my eyes. "Hi, Qrow." He came in, a dashing crooked smile on his face and a gleam in his red eyes. "Heyya. Pup. You're looking totally exhausted." I groaned. So it was going to be this today huh? "I'm fine, Qrow. What're you here for?" He held out a box. "I was ordered to make sure you ate lunch by a small girl who managed to throw me across the school grounds and into a pond." I laughed loudly. No wonder I thought I heard his shoes squelching. "That'd be my daughter." Mama Thayet said, grinning from ear to ear. "No wonder she was so lovely." He said very suave.

I took the box and found with relief that it was all plain food. Regular rice with plain chicken and a small thing of spinach. I ate it all quickly, realizing that I hadn't eaten in a long while. Qrow and Mama Thayet chatted about Elise's performance in the one on one round. She and I had watched it on a screen in the infirmary and it was quite the fight. The guy she fought gave her a hard time but Elise was more stubborn than he was and she had been training for this for over half a year.

She had used Serenity to distract him and finished him with a hard punch to the gut that sent him flying off the platform. It was the closest fight I had seen yet in the one on ones. I was so proud of her and it made me happy beyond belief that Mama Thayet had been able to see it.

I was so glad she had gotten to met Peyton and Daren. She had loved them the moment she saw them and I could feel how pleased she was that both her children had such beautiful and kind significant others.

Even Oz had come to see her once. And she hadn't been fooled one moment.

"You're in love with him." She said, right after he left. It had stunned me speechless. "I, ah… well, you see… ah." She tutted in a motherly tone. "He's handsome, smart, kind and well off. And he is mature enough for you." She said smiling at my ever changing expression.

"How?..." She had winked at me. "Silver bird, I've been around a while and made many matches in my village. I saw the way you looked at him and the way his eyes lingered on you when he thought I wasn't looking. You need a man, not a boy. And that is one fine man." Her bluntness was refreshing and her acceptance like a golden light inside me.

Now I knew where Elise got her perceptive nature.

Mama Thayet laughed at something Qrow said and startled me out of my reverie, and I poured more energy into her healing strands as I felt her wane. "Isn't that right, Pup?" Qrow asked and I looked at him bleary eyed. "I missed that," I rubbed my eyes clear, "what did you say?" I could feel concern like a pulse off of Qrow but he hid it well.

"I said that Elise is small but she is mighty." I chuckled. "That she is."

"Dahlia, honey. Why don't you go make another pot of coffee. You're looking a little peaky." Mama Thayet said, gently. "Are you sure?" I asked. I didn't like leaving her alone. "Elin and Elise are heading back with Peyton and Daren in tow. I'll be fine. Go on." She urged, looking back at the screen Peyton had set up for her.

Qrow helped lever me up and out of the room. "Easy there, girl." He whispered, setting me down in my desk chair. "I'm fine, bastard. I just need more coffee." He grunted in displeasure. "What you need is sleep. What's it been? Two days, maybe more? And you've been using your Semblance this whole time." I glared at him and poured myself more coffee. "Dahlia." He said, unbearably gentle. "If you don't sleep, your body is going to shut down." I growled viciously. "Don't you think I know that?!"

He only raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly anger was to tiring to hold onto. I sighed and drank more coffee. "I know, bastard. I'm doing my best here. I can't sleep. If I sleep, I lose my connection with her and she dies. I have to stay awake till she recovers."

He kneeled down in front of me and looked up, forcing me to meet his knowing eyes. "Pup. It's not worth losing both of you. Just remember that." I tried to smile down at him, feeling my Semblance drain even more, trying to reassure him.

"Qrow. If I lose her, there won't be much left of me to save."


End file.
